Phish Bowl Ministries
October 2011
Matthew 4:19
“Chummin’ for Saints…until the nets are full”
My beloved Saints of the Church, how are you? I pray for you all and ask our Lord to reveal Himself as a light that draws you to know Him better. I have a thirst to be a man of God. I long to hear “Good and faithful servant”; the truth be said, I’m not good or faithful and neither are you, if we are honest with ourselves. But, I’m so glad God the Father, when He looks at me, sees Jesus and His work. So I also ask when looking at each other that we see Jesus; let’s see any light. Let us see life, not death in our brothers and sisters. It’s so easy to spend the long nights going over every little thing. Do you know that your Father in Heaven is not doing this? He loves you and so do I.
If you have been following P.B. newsletter over the past month you can see that I have spent long nights going over every little thing. What you saw in my writing was soul sickness brought on by a love deficiency in my heart. I’m not talking in a world view, but a spiritual view. So I wish to share what love did to bring me out of the tomb, back into the Light and out of despair. It is a giving, selfless, expect-nothing-in return king of love. Let’s read 1 Corinthians 13 together:
(1 Corinthians 13:1-13) Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (NKJV)
In 13:1, we learn that great faith, acts of dedication or sacrifice, miracle-working power, or the ability to speak in any language in heaven or earth will produce very little without love. Although people have different gifts, love is available to everyone. Christians must not exalt gifts over character. Love is far more important.
13:2: Here we have three gifts mentioned:
1. Prophecy: the ability to bring God’s message to the church under the directive of the Holy Spirit. See also 1 Corinthians 14:3: But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. (NKJV)
2. Knowledge: While all believers ought to study in order to understand more and be able to teach others about why we believe, knowledge is nothing without love.
3. Faith: I do not believe that Paul is talking about saving faith here, but the faith to live out a life for God. You cannot live a Christian life void of love because it will be empty.
What does patient love among believers look like? Such love bears with annoyances and inconveniences without complaining. Such love does not lose its temper when provoked. Without Godly love in us, we will be impatient, short-tempered and irritable.
Love is kind. The Greek word translated “is kind”, Chrestevetai, occurs only here in the New Testament. “Kindness”, chrestotes, occurs in Galatians 5:27. It probably means the same as a similar word also translated as “kind” in Ephesians 4:32. “Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ, has forgiven you”. (NLT) Kindness takes the initiation in responding generously to others’ needs. The psalms and writings of the prophets say much about God’s kindness: (Psalm 18:50: Great deliverance He gives to His king, and shows mercy to His anointed, To David and his descendants forevermore.; Isaiah 54:8 With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you," Says the LORD, your Redeemer. ; Jeremiah 9:24 But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the LORD.) Since we, as believers, have received kindness, we have the opportunity to act with kindness towards others. How does “kind love” look among believers? Such love is considerate and helpful to others.
13:3: Acts of charity and self-sacrifice can be for the sake of an ideal or with pride as a motivation. However, they are of no value for the kingdom, wrote Paul, unless they are done from the foundation of love for another. Now we move on to a list which we are going to break into two teachings. This month we will study “love is patient, love is kind and it does not envy”. I want us to think about each one and know more about them and why the Holy Spirit listed them as our foundation.
13:4: Love is patient or longsuffering in the KJV. Because love is so important among the believers, Paul went on to describe that love in more detail. How does love look when lived out in the lives of believers? First of all, love is patient. The term “is patient”, makrothumei, is the opposite of being short-tempered. “Long-suffering” or “slow to anger” is an attribute of God. Exodus 34:6 And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,; Numbers 14:18 'The LORD is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.'; Romans 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?; 1 Peter 3:20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. In many places, God’s people are called to be patient, Ephesians 4:2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,; Colossians 3:12: Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 1 Thessalonians 5:14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all., and in Galatians 5:26, patience is a fruit of the Spirit.
Kind love is gentle and mild; always ready to show compassion, especially to those in need. Without love, even the great gifts can not be exercised with an eye to helping others.
So let’s stop there for now. Next month we will pick back up in 1 Cor 13:4 and finish off this list. Before we leave, let us take a quick look at 1 John. In five short chapters, John uses different forms of the word love 46 times. He wanted to teach his readers the importance of love in the Christian walk.
1 John
2:5, 5:2-3 Keeping God’s Word is proof that we love God.
2:10 When we love our brothers (sisters), we will live without stumbling.
2:15 We are not to love the world or the things in the world.
We cannot love the world and love God also.
3:1, 16; 4:9-11 God’s love prompted Him to make us His children through the death of
His Son.
3:11, 16, 23 Loving other believers is a fundamental requirement of the Christian
4:4, 11, 12 life.
3:10, 14; A failure to love other Christians raises serious questions about the
4:8, 20 genuineness of our faith.
3: 17-18 Genuine love always results in action, not merely sentimental words.
4: 7, 16 God is the source of all love.
4: 17,18 Mature love does not produce fear but instead, imparts courage.
4: 19 Long before we loved God, He loved us first.
As a doulos of Christ, one of my duties is to love my Master’s Church and to show that love, just as my Master shows me love. This includes not bad talking any of the saints and beating me up day and night. If God love me and knows me just where I am at, who am I not to love the spirit in me?
Most of you know that I am a convicted sex offender. Well, this week, I started “group”, a 6-9 month class that is required for me to take before I’m eligible for any parole. Please keep me in your prayers as I learn, apply and pass all requirements.
(Editor’s note: I thought the program was a 2 year program, so praise God that I am wrong!)
Please Saints remember it is a life long journey to understand that God’s will won’t disappoint us. There is soul healing in God’s loving Word and the church of the Messiah’s Misfits. Remember my chains as I remember yours. Watch. Hold fast in the faith. Be brave and be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.
A message from one of Kevin’s teachings: Pollution corrupts externally; corruption pollutes internally. Just food for thought. Barb
Semper Fidelis!
1 Corinthians 16:13-14
Phish Bowl Coffee House, P.O. Box 153, Loveland, CO 80539.
http://inthephishbowl.blogspot.com
An outreach of Calvary Chapel Loveland
Saturday, September 24, 2011
September 2011 PBM
Phish Bowl Ministries
September 2011
Matthew 4:19
“Chummin’ for Saints…until the nets are full”
My dear friends, I thank you for all of your prayers and concerns about how I am doing. I hope to speak clearly about the five year mark in prison. For many of us, the five year blues hit very hard. You wake up not wanting to start another day in what has become our world, our life. We ask God if He is ever going to hear our prayers and when will the answer come? It’s not always just one thing; we have many different things on our minds that hurt, such as: the memories of our kids. My daughter, Brontë turned 16 on the first. For most of us, thoughts of what we have done and what we are still doing to our kids because of putting ourselves first runs through our minds. So, we call out to Jesus and ask, beg, for relief.
So I take this and other stuff to the cross. I know the Word. I read the Word. I remind myself of God’s perfect plan daily. Still, I feel as if I’m Lazarus waiting in the tomb for my Lord to call me out from the dead to a life with the living, to a transformed new me. My favorite game to play with God is telling Him: “If only I was free, I could do this or that.” I remind Him of what kind of husband, father, and church-man I would be and how the world somehow is less without me.
My beloved, your concerns and soul-sickness may not be the same as mine, but something else might be bringing to your soul a dis-ease, a longing for something different from the life you’ve been living so far. We need Jesus’ help just as Lazarus did. When we find ourselves sick and tired of being sick and tired, only God’s help will do. The same breath that filled the life of Lazarus and brought him back, can and will do the same for us, to you and to me. The same sickness, the sickness of thinking we can earn God’s love. The thinking that if God would only work the way I want Him to, all would be just right.
So, I told you all last month, that I was in the desert looking for God…our loving God let me go. I packed my bags; I picked what to take and how to get there. I cried out to God, “I’m dying! Where are you? Why won’t You help me? Have I sinned so badly that I’m beyond Your love?” “God is kind, but He’s not soft. In kindness, He takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into radical life change.” Romans 2:4 MSG. What had to change is my image of God. I did not leave to go to the desert; I was coming out of it. Slowly, I let unbiblical thinking have a place in my mind.
“A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” Galatians 5:9
My image of God and how He works with His children was not the true God. So, I, in my power, in my thinking, left the loving God of the bible to live in the land of the if-thens:
If I was good enough, then…
If I was committed, then …
If I would read the right book, then…
If I was someone I was not, then…
One by one, each fell short and I retreated more and more into loneliness. First came walking to chow alone, then eating at a table without my friends, finding reasons to miss yard call, then a full out retreat from fellowship. I crawled back into my Lazarus tomb (my cell) and back into darkness.
What started this was my thinking of God’s timing and how He works. I put God on my time table. Then, I kept returning to my vacation home in the land of “what-ifs”. I abandoned what I knew was true and went so far away from it that I could no longer remember what it looked like until a friend asked me how I was doing and would not take the 10 minute cover story. He said, “That all sounds good, but I did not ask you how things are going around you. I asked, how are you?”
I was reading my bible daily, in service to the church body, and was in church 5 days a week. I was lonely because I turned from the Truth of a loving God and did not let close friends be in fellowship with me.
I know that God’s timing was not my timing in my mind, but now I had to apply what I knew about waiting to be transformed and His plans for me and for my family, to my walk.
God did not wake up this morning asking Moses, “How did Timothy Nathanael, my doulos get in prison”? God did not plan my sin, but He is making provision for its consequences. Including Brontë’ and Bishop having to grow up without their father. My father in Heaven knows how I feel; He watched 33 of Jesus’ birthdays from afar. Picture this as Mary and Martha sat with Lazarus. I wonder if they thought about what they did know about their friend, Jesus.
One thing that they knew about Jesus is that He did not hurry to get to Lazarus. From the age of twelve until the age of thirty, He remained quiet from the needy world---thirty years! We might consider this and think what a waste of time! During this time, as far as we knew, Jesus was growing up to be a carpenter. But what we need to know is this, when God saw fit to announce Jesus’ ministry, and not before, Jesus appeared in the “fullness of time”.
Jesus still works out our time. The word “time” in Scripture has two meanings in Greek. Chronos is literally time which can be counted on. This is where we get the word chronology. The other word for time is Kairos. Kairos time is far different than chronos time; it is “the appointed time in the purpose of God”. It is a “time in between” when God breaks through.
On the hot day in Bethany when Lazarus died, no plea from the begging sisters or concerned disciples could move Jesus to operate in their human chronos time table. They had to wait for the karios moment. Until that moment, Jesus would linger, Lazarus would die. I’m a lot like Mary and Martha; I have in mind the chronos time when Jesus should arrive. I seem to find it hard to understand that transformation is a slow process, on God’s timetable.
Consider this: The Potter forming clay on a wheel works and reworks the clay. He shapes the clay until it is transformed into His desired image. This is not a fast process. It’s not meant to be a fast process. It’s loving, intentional, deliberate, and purposeful. It may look slow from our point of view, but the Potter has had the timing in mind all along. Our Potter is Jesus and He knows all about kairos. Keep this in mind. In the end we will see beautiful workmanship because the Potter waited for just the right time.
Transformation is slow, not because God does not love us, but because God has a greater purpose in mind. Has it crossed your mind that God just might want you to be transformed more than you want to be transformed? As we go on in Lazarus’ story, Jesus tells His disciples that Lazarus’ illness was “for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it”. John 11:4
Glory talk goes on beyond our view point, beyond our time tables and beyond what we think is best. It allows God to break through at the most unusual time. Glory talk happens when God does something big and gets the credit which at times is the hard thing to understand whether you’re behind bars or when we’re in a crisis and just need God to show up. But, I do know this; when God seems distant and quiet, it becomes the fodder for fire in which glory begins to burn brightly.
It’s ironic that the times when God seems most absent can be the times when we get to know Him better. We read in Romans 5:5 that “hope does not disappoint us”. As our desperate heart cries out to the lingering Jesus, we wonder what kind of hope that could be. It’s in those moments God is birthing a new hope in us; a hope in who He is, not a hope in who we want Him to be.
Please Saints remember, it is a life long journey to understand that God’s will, will not disappoint us.
Glory is brooding, glory is about to be unleashed.
We can find healing in God’s loving arms and in a church full of Messiah’s Misfits. Remember my chains as I remember yours. Watch. Hold fast in the faith. Be brave and be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.
Semper Fidelis!
Love, Timothy
Phish Bowl Ministries, P.O. Box 153, Loveland, CO 80539.
http://inthephishbowl.blogspot.com
An outreach of Calvary Chapel Loveland
September 2011
Matthew 4:19
“Chummin’ for Saints…until the nets are full”
My dear friends, I thank you for all of your prayers and concerns about how I am doing. I hope to speak clearly about the five year mark in prison. For many of us, the five year blues hit very hard. You wake up not wanting to start another day in what has become our world, our life. We ask God if He is ever going to hear our prayers and when will the answer come? It’s not always just one thing; we have many different things on our minds that hurt, such as: the memories of our kids. My daughter, Brontë turned 16 on the first. For most of us, thoughts of what we have done and what we are still doing to our kids because of putting ourselves first runs through our minds. So, we call out to Jesus and ask, beg, for relief.
So I take this and other stuff to the cross. I know the Word. I read the Word. I remind myself of God’s perfect plan daily. Still, I feel as if I’m Lazarus waiting in the tomb for my Lord to call me out from the dead to a life with the living, to a transformed new me. My favorite game to play with God is telling Him: “If only I was free, I could do this or that.” I remind Him of what kind of husband, father, and church-man I would be and how the world somehow is less without me.
My beloved, your concerns and soul-sickness may not be the same as mine, but something else might be bringing to your soul a dis-ease, a longing for something different from the life you’ve been living so far. We need Jesus’ help just as Lazarus did. When we find ourselves sick and tired of being sick and tired, only God’s help will do. The same breath that filled the life of Lazarus and brought him back, can and will do the same for us, to you and to me. The same sickness, the sickness of thinking we can earn God’s love. The thinking that if God would only work the way I want Him to, all would be just right.
So, I told you all last month, that I was in the desert looking for God…our loving God let me go. I packed my bags; I picked what to take and how to get there. I cried out to God, “I’m dying! Where are you? Why won’t You help me? Have I sinned so badly that I’m beyond Your love?” “God is kind, but He’s not soft. In kindness, He takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into radical life change.” Romans 2:4 MSG. What had to change is my image of God. I did not leave to go to the desert; I was coming out of it. Slowly, I let unbiblical thinking have a place in my mind.
“A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” Galatians 5:9
My image of God and how He works with His children was not the true God. So, I, in my power, in my thinking, left the loving God of the bible to live in the land of the if-thens:
If I was good enough, then…
If I was committed, then …
If I would read the right book, then…
If I was someone I was not, then…
One by one, each fell short and I retreated more and more into loneliness. First came walking to chow alone, then eating at a table without my friends, finding reasons to miss yard call, then a full out retreat from fellowship. I crawled back into my Lazarus tomb (my cell) and back into darkness.
What started this was my thinking of God’s timing and how He works. I put God on my time table. Then, I kept returning to my vacation home in the land of “what-ifs”. I abandoned what I knew was true and went so far away from it that I could no longer remember what it looked like until a friend asked me how I was doing and would not take the 10 minute cover story. He said, “That all sounds good, but I did not ask you how things are going around you. I asked, how are you?”
I was reading my bible daily, in service to the church body, and was in church 5 days a week. I was lonely because I turned from the Truth of a loving God and did not let close friends be in fellowship with me.
I know that God’s timing was not my timing in my mind, but now I had to apply what I knew about waiting to be transformed and His plans for me and for my family, to my walk.
God did not wake up this morning asking Moses, “How did Timothy Nathanael, my doulos get in prison”? God did not plan my sin, but He is making provision for its consequences. Including Brontë’ and Bishop having to grow up without their father. My father in Heaven knows how I feel; He watched 33 of Jesus’ birthdays from afar. Picture this as Mary and Martha sat with Lazarus. I wonder if they thought about what they did know about their friend, Jesus.
One thing that they knew about Jesus is that He did not hurry to get to Lazarus. From the age of twelve until the age of thirty, He remained quiet from the needy world---thirty years! We might consider this and think what a waste of time! During this time, as far as we knew, Jesus was growing up to be a carpenter. But what we need to know is this, when God saw fit to announce Jesus’ ministry, and not before, Jesus appeared in the “fullness of time”.
Jesus still works out our time. The word “time” in Scripture has two meanings in Greek. Chronos is literally time which can be counted on. This is where we get the word chronology. The other word for time is Kairos. Kairos time is far different than chronos time; it is “the appointed time in the purpose of God”. It is a “time in between” when God breaks through.
On the hot day in Bethany when Lazarus died, no plea from the begging sisters or concerned disciples could move Jesus to operate in their human chronos time table. They had to wait for the karios moment. Until that moment, Jesus would linger, Lazarus would die. I’m a lot like Mary and Martha; I have in mind the chronos time when Jesus should arrive. I seem to find it hard to understand that transformation is a slow process, on God’s timetable.
Consider this: The Potter forming clay on a wheel works and reworks the clay. He shapes the clay until it is transformed into His desired image. This is not a fast process. It’s not meant to be a fast process. It’s loving, intentional, deliberate, and purposeful. It may look slow from our point of view, but the Potter has had the timing in mind all along. Our Potter is Jesus and He knows all about kairos. Keep this in mind. In the end we will see beautiful workmanship because the Potter waited for just the right time.
Transformation is slow, not because God does not love us, but because God has a greater purpose in mind. Has it crossed your mind that God just might want you to be transformed more than you want to be transformed? As we go on in Lazarus’ story, Jesus tells His disciples that Lazarus’ illness was “for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it”. John 11:4
Glory talk goes on beyond our view point, beyond our time tables and beyond what we think is best. It allows God to break through at the most unusual time. Glory talk happens when God does something big and gets the credit which at times is the hard thing to understand whether you’re behind bars or when we’re in a crisis and just need God to show up. But, I do know this; when God seems distant and quiet, it becomes the fodder for fire in which glory begins to burn brightly.
It’s ironic that the times when God seems most absent can be the times when we get to know Him better. We read in Romans 5:5 that “hope does not disappoint us”. As our desperate heart cries out to the lingering Jesus, we wonder what kind of hope that could be. It’s in those moments God is birthing a new hope in us; a hope in who He is, not a hope in who we want Him to be.
Please Saints remember, it is a life long journey to understand that God’s will, will not disappoint us.
Glory is brooding, glory is about to be unleashed.
We can find healing in God’s loving arms and in a church full of Messiah’s Misfits. Remember my chains as I remember yours. Watch. Hold fast in the faith. Be brave and be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.
Semper Fidelis!
Love, Timothy
Phish Bowl Ministries, P.O. Box 153, Loveland, CO 80539.
http://inthephishbowl.blogspot.com
An outreach of Calvary Chapel Loveland
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