Read on, this is the sequel to ‘Formless Foundation’.
“Words like decentralization and autonomy have been playing in my mind as of late. To be honest I do like the idea of being autonomous. I like the idea of not being fully dependent on a central structure. I like to be able to stand alone – the way I see it, it isn’t to disrespect those who are opposed to it, but to be able to stand on my own actually respects them, if you think about it.
You can say that I’ve started working on it ever since the second half of February. I think being sick to the point of seriously questioning my mortality had me thinking (that is, as soon as the pain allowed me to think), have I done what I could do for those under the same household as me to be able to stand, in case of the expiry of my physical body? More importantly, am I doing the best that I can to stand up for my future wife and (3) kids?
I’m a whole lot better now, and the best I can say in response is that I’m still working on answering that question. As mentioned earlier I have been working on setting up sources of wealth that, if proven not to be scams, would eventually stand on their own, and then work together to establish higher performance in existing systems, and/or new, higher level sources of wealth. In the process of moving capital from one venture to another I’ve learned not to be easily swayed by what you read, hear or watch, and, even in the individual level – actually, especially in the individual level, we would do well to find the bounce in our step with Christ as the foundation, the Beginning and End in even our personal plans.”
Christ takes precedence and is Lord over all. That point was what was pulled out during the last post, and today, though to some it may be obvious, the Identity, Supremacy, and Ultimatum of Christ impacts us on the individual level as much as it ought to on a church fellowship scale.
And before I go any further, I do want to keep in mind that the entity where I am the lead pastor is a fellowship first before it is a church – that is, I would do anything and everything in my power to ensure that the bonds I have with my team as a fellowship would be strong and overflowing with peace and power as a priority over doing the same for the general congregation that seems to be coming back again and again for more of the Gospel according to the Aces.
Sorry, I felt that needed to be there before I went any further. But wait, let’s go back to that – the Identity, Supremacy, and Ultimatum of Christ. If you’ve dug deep enough into the archives of my (cringe) articles ten or twenty years ago (my God, we ARE approaching 20 years of jibee. Starting from the blogspot, now we here!), you will see that through all that time I’ve been a serious fan of the Bourne Trilogy. You’d have to thank my college friends – I mean, soon as I saw Matt Damon kick the carcass of an operative through the railings of the top floor, jumping on said (literal) dead weight to cushion his descent, and shooting an enemy running up the spiral stairs in the head on the way down… I wasn’t laughing. No man, I was HOOKED.
But all that aside I went through the entire trilogy of movies first, and then the books. Both were given the blessing of Robert Ludlum, and therefore both were awesome. But okay I talked too much about that. I’ll start reading the books again very soon, and I’m thinking of probably watching the movie trilogy after that.
I said what I said about my team before the rest of the congregation because I feel as if our identity as a team does need to be defined further. We’ve been together for many years, but we haven’t actually stepped up until last year. This has to be developed before we have any hope of taking on future projects with any sort of confidence – a lack of a clear identity immediately places our superiority in question, much less any singular plans and visions we would have. For the majority of Christ’s time walking along with us in this reality He asserted His identity, along with giving us a true perspective of God as a loving Father, among other truths. It was through His miracles where He demonstrated his supremacy and superiority over the limits we have of time and space, and it was by His finished work that He proved His glorious victory over Satan, crushing him, and rendering us completely and absolutely free from sin, death, and fear… and Christ’s finished work has saved us – as He is eternal and infinite, so our salvation is eternal and infinite, within the confines of time and beyond, holding us until we witness the ironic ‘ultimatum’ – that is, end of our finite being and/or the end of creation.
Christ is eternal, yet had the humility to come within the confines of creation in order to secure our past by way of revealing His identity, to provide peace in the present by way of His death and resurrection, and to keep us anchored in hope by way of His ascension, and the outpouring of His Spirit upon all of us who believe.
And we’re seeing that Christ is infinite, as His finished work has this same impact (identity, supremacy, and ultimatum) on the body of Christ as a whole, and in its different moving parts and entities (ministries, churches, and fellowships), down to the individual level, intimate yet overflowing in power and peace, asserting all of His identity with each and every believer down to the smallest details of each of our beings, that we would celebrate His supremacy and look forward to the future with hope, first, on our own, and eventually, as the multitude before the great white throne, forever giving glory to the Lamb of God.
Wow, sorry I got distracted there. Gosh, sorry I didn’t really know where this was going. I mean, I started working on it a couple of hours ago, but I wasn’t happy with the initial approach, so I scrapped it entirely and jumped back in by way of reading the entire article posted yesterday. I didn’t know I was going to be taking this precise route right now.
But it’s a welcome leading. I mean, if would would be doing the works of God as a church, then I ought to be prioritizing my team doing the works of God. And surely, I could have them do what I want on a whim, but I would be disrespecting them if I wasn’t doing the works of God myself… and here, I hope to prove to myself and everyone that, indeed, I am doing the works of God in an individual level – that is, to believe in the one God has sent; And we’re seeing here, believing isn’t a work, it’s a variant of sorts to what we’ve been talking about for a while now – the fear of the Lord. To believe God is who He says He is is the opening that leads me to where I am now – in total awe and wonder of Christ and His finished work. It’s by the power of the Holy Spirit that each of us reaches this point, and I am pretty confident all of us eventually do reach this point – not to call it ideal or theoretical, but just to preach and play on perspectives of the only begotten Son of God, and to be enraptured by the love of His Father at each and every turn… I believe that’s what keeps us together as individuals, and surely it is Christ and His finished work that keeps us together in our fellowship, our churches, and the entire body.
And now that I think about it, this Savior we have is surely honored every time we intentionally put our minds into who He is, what He’s done, and what we are trusting Him for, all this is the Truth that stands – with or without our participation.
Why do I say this? To emphasize that He is Lord, He is infinitely greater than all, no matter what tools we choose, no matter what strategies we take, and no matter how much confidence or doubt we have at any given point. Christ is the Truth that holds us together no matter what facts are present in any circumstance.
I’ve been saying that for the umpteenth time, and I never grow sick of it – but it’s only half of the Truth. We should be looking at the other side of the coin as well.
(To be concluded)
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
Leave a Reply