PBM Jan 2014

PHISH BOWL MINISTRIES

JANUARY 2014

“Chummin’ for Saints until the nets are full”

Matthew 4:19

 

My dear friends,

     Blessings to you all from the free world; OK, not so completely free for me, but I am half way there.  Community is a lot different than the picture that was painted for me by the fellas in the joint.  It has taken some time to focus on how my new phish bowl would work; but I can see Father clearly in my life.

     My first day here the Calvary family so blessed me by providing my needs and some wants, and they have continued to love on me.  Pastor Kevin, Barb, and others have shown me the love of Jesus and what our walk is supposed to look like confirming in words and action what we believe Christ is calling all of us to be and do and that is Love!  It is so easy to love lovable people, but what if you are called to love difficult people?  This is where the rubber meets the road.  When everything you think that Father should be doing is not what He knows is best for us.  We must continue to trust in Father’s perfect and loving plan for our lives.  You may be asking, OK Tim, why are you writing in this way?  I believe this is a good question.  Back in October and November we started to study about Peter and Cornelius, a Jew and a Gentile, I cannot help but to see a connection to my new life in some ways.

     I am coming from one world, one way of living and going to another world, another way of living.  A world where things are so different and I am so different in so many ways.  I am an outsider to this world and Father has sent me here.  Uprooted and replanted---not so much for me---even though I too reap the blessing, but more for others and the glory of God.

Acts 10:9-23 Peter’s Vision:  ⁹ The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. ¹⁰ Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance ¹¹ and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. ¹² In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. ¹³ And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” ¹⁴ But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” ¹⁵ And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” ¹⁶ This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.  ¹⁷ Now while Peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant, behold, the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate. ¹⁸ And they called and asked whether Simon, whose surname was Peter, was lodging there. ¹⁹ While Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are seeking you. ²⁰ Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.” ²¹ Then Peter went down to the men who had been sent to him from Cornelius, and said, “Yes, I am he whom you seek. For what reason have you come?” ²² And they said, “Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one who fears God and has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house, and to hear words from you.” ²³ Then he invited them in and lodged them. On the next day Peter went away with them, and some brethren from Joppa accompanied him.

The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
     Let me start with a background picture about Jews and Gentiles.  In the OT, it is taught that the Jews were to be a light for the Gentiles, but somewhere that slowly became perverted to a teaching like this:   All Gentiles were unclean (unworthy) and God made Gentiles to fuel the fires of hell.     If a Jew happened to touch a Gentile, he would go home, burn his clothes and take a bath…not ASAP, but he would drop everything and announce loudly “unclean, unclean” or in Hebrew ‘tame’ [taw-may, tame].  So why does God need to get Peter’s attention?  Because He needs to change Peter’s viewpoint on how things are to be.

 ⁹ The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. ¹⁰ Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance

     I find it true in many situations that when Father wants to do a work in me, He will get me alone and form a hunger in my soul; is that hunger for Him or for fellowship? Many times, that hunger is for me to be who God has called me to be.
     In Acts 9:32, it tells us that “Peter was traveling through all those parts (places).” Don’t overlook this.  God in His word is always really good at telling who the players are; I mean who the traveling companions are.  Peter is traveling alone.  Wondering.  Looking to see where and how Father is going to use him.  He’s hungry for something.  Is it healing Aeneas? (Acts 9:33-34).  Is it raising Dorcas from the dead?  (Acts 9: 39-43).  Many times in my own walk, it seems as if I’m traveling alone looking for His will at this time in my life.  (OK, I know that He is always with me so don’t get lost in thought).  Praying, studying, and doing ministry can get in front of me, but all of the time knowing Father has me in a holding pattern.
     For almost the first 30 days in the halfway house there was nothing for me to do.  I could not get passes out.  I felt like I needed to find a job, get set up in church and the list can go on and on.  But, Father had a plan and His own timing.  So, I was to sit, serve and trust in Him.  In His perfect timing, I received a Wal-Mart pass two days after Kevin returned from Israel.  Then I landed a job just a few days after I finished all of my required check in and registry.  He knows the time and I need to trust His timing. I can see this in Peter; OK Lord, you want me here, OK.  Go to Lydda, OK.  Stay in Joppa with a tanner, OK. Can we do this? I have to tell you the truth that although not in every hour of every day, but I continue to press on for the goal.
     Back to the text and vs. 10, “desiring to eat”.  This word –geuomai (ghyoo’-om-ahee) means to eat or taste.  This will be very important as we move on in the teaching.  There are those who will tell you that this is all metaphorical and yes in some ways it is, but don’t get it backwards.  Don’t let those who are Judaizers flip this teaching around to bring you back under bondage.
     And next, “He fell into a trance”.  A trance is: “a state in which the soul is unconscious of present objects being wrapped into visions of distant or future things”.  Father has Peter just where He wants him.  Still, he is in prayer seeking our Lord’s vision for Him, he’s not running around asking Bob, John, Dick, or Harry what he should do.  He is seeking the Lord, open to the Lord’s voice and look what happens:

 ¹¹ and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. ¹² In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air.

     Due to room in this letter, I will not put Leviticus 11 but I do hope that you stop for a few minutes and read it.

¹³ And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” ¹⁴ But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” ¹⁵ And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” ¹⁶ This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.

     “Kill and eat” what?  All kinds of animals, reptiles and birds; the problem was that the animals were mixed, clean and unclean.  On this sheet were all different kinds of animals and in the middle was a big, fat, dirty pig!  This is where we get the Greek term “Pig in a blanket”!  Sorry, I couldn’t pass it up…sorry…but that’s funny!
     The red letter Bible adds something to this text that is missed in non- red letter Bibles.  In verse 13, “Rise Peter, kill and eat” are in red, meaning this is Jesus speaking to Peter and in verse 14, he knows Jesus’ voice, “Not so Lord”!  I just wonder for a moment when is Peter ever going to get it?  Here he is again rebuking Jesus.  But the cool thing is that this does not faze Jesus for one moment.  He knows and loves Peter right where he is.  He has no problem setting Peter straight, “What God has called cleaned”.  Stop, not clean, but cleaned, past tense, the cross is done.  Jesus has risen for our sins.  We who belong to Him are cleaned, it’s done.
     This is the point in the teachings that some twist to fit their own teaching and not Father’s.  Kill and eat; we have covered eat already, now kill.  Greek: Thuō (thoo), which is an action word-do, sacrifice, slay.  So the first part of the teaching is clear; it is about food as well as men.  We know this by going to Galatians 2:11-21.
Galatians 2:11-21
¹¹ Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; ¹² for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. ¹³ And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.

¹⁴ But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? ¹⁵ We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, ¹⁶ knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.  ¹⁷ “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸ For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. ¹⁹ For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. ²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

      So, kill is kill and eat is eat.  Food may have been the first consideration, but Peter would soon understand the greater message.  Why is man, Greeks or Gentiles, the greater message over an issue of the Law?  It is because of love.  God is calling us to love one another, not fight over the law.
Romans 14:1-14  Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. ² For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. ³ Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. ⁴ Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.  ⁵ One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶ He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. ⁷ For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. ⁸ For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹ For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. ¹⁰ But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. ¹¹ For it is written:
“As I live, says the Lord,
Every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall confess to God.”
¹² So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. ¹³ Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.  ¹⁴ I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. ¹⁵ Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died. ¹⁶ Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil; ¹⁷ for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.  ¹⁹ Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. ²⁰ Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense. ²¹ It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. ²² Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. ²³ But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.

     So, what does Peter do about this new concept?

¹⁷ Now while Peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant, behold, the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate. ¹⁸ And they called and asked whether Simon, whose surname was Peter, was lodging there. ¹⁹ While Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are seeking you. ²⁰ Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.” ²¹ Then Peter went down to the men who had been sent to him from Cornelius, and said, “Yes, I am he whom you seek. For what reason have you come?” ²² And they said, “Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one who fears God and has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house, and to hear words from you.” ²³ Then he invited them in and lodged them. On the next day Peter went away with them, and some brethren from Joppa accompanied him.

     Peter went way with them.

Acts 11:12   Then the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house.
     Though Peter chose to travel in public with three Gentiles, he was careful to take six believing   Jewish brethren with him as witnesses for two reasons.  One was that a Jew needed the witness of two or more during any type of dissension and 2) Peter anticipated the argument from “those of the circumcision”.
Acts 11:13 And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, ‘Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose surname is Peter,
     In closing, in verse 20, the Spirit tells him “…arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them”.   The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity speaks, whereas in verse 13, Jesus is the one speaking and back in verse 4, God the Father (Abba) knows Cornelius’ prayers.  Things such as this are very important to see our God as a 3 in 1 God and passages such as this one clearly point to that:

     Father-knows

     Jesus-instructs
     Spirit-leads
     And Peter does what each of us is to do, he goes!  See what his travel instructions are: “Doubt nothing, for I (Spirit) have sent…”  Note to self from the Holy Spirit:  “Doubt nothing, for I have sent you to the Phoenix Center”.

     To my family behind the walls, I miss you daily and my heart aches for our fellowship.  Know that you are in my prayers and how I love you so.  Father knows the day and time we will see each other in this world or in the next.  As you know, at this time, I cannot directly contact you.  Let all of the saints know this; living right, living in the Light.

     If any of you need to contact Phish Bowl, you may do so through Barb as we talk weekly.
Semper Fidelis!

Love, Timothy (I Corinthians 16:13-14)

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