The mamzer from Nazareth ‘discovered’ and grew into his identity and destiny as God’s Be-Loved. Then it was supernaturally confirmed at his baptism: “You are my Agapetos.” He was who he was and did what he did because he was so free to love, knowing Abba’s love. His life and baptism is the model for Christian life and baptism: When we believe in Jesus we are “accepted in The Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6). Then OUR baptism confirms and empowers US to be God’s Beloved daughters and sons.
Christian Baptism, Gal 3:22-29
“You are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Messiah Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Therefore, there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.”
Jesus is Abraham’s seed fulfilling the sacrifice of love in Genesis 22:1-14. In the Septuagint (Greek translation of Old Testament) the Hebrew yachid, “one and only son” is translated Agapetos (verse 2). In Jesus WE are God’s seed, “born again” by his Spirit as his “one and only” sons and daughters. That gives each of us a whole new identity and destiny as God’s dearly “Beloved Child” (see Ephesians 1:6 cf. 5:1). The Early Church used the intimate Abba (“Daddy”) in their address to God, which they learnt from Jesus: “As God’s children, he sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba’ (Galatians 4:6, see also Romans 8:15-17). Continue reading YOU as God’s Beloved
In the Christian ‘liturgical’ calendar the Feast of Epiphany follows Christmas. It’s held on 6 January to celebrate Jesus being revealed (manifest = epiphany) to the world. In the Western Church Epiphany focuses on the visit of the three Magi to baby Jesus. The Eastern Church focuses on Jesus’ water baptism, followed by his desert temptations. Both East and West Church then focus on Jesus’ ministry of the Kingdom from Epiphany to the beginning of Lent (starts 5 March), which prepares us for Jesus’ passion during Pesach (18-20 April). Here I teach on Jesus’ baptism in God’s Spirit of Love – his being revealed to the world as God’s Beloved Messiah.
The Historical Jesus as THE Beloved
Jesus was “illegitimately” conceived before his parent’s wedding. He probably was known as a “mamzer” (illegitimate), with suspicious paternity and social rejection. Imagine the effect? He had father issues! As Jesus grew up he listened to his parent’s amazing stories of supernatural visitations at his conception and birth. He learnt to receive and trust God as his Father (Abba) in a very real sense. His father apprenticed him in his business, through which Jesus learned to “be about my Father’s business” (at age 12, Luke 2:49). Jesus consciously experienced Abba’s love in each moment and in each event of every day. At age 30 he went to John and was baptized. Matthew 3:13-17 says: Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with him I am well pleased.” Continue reading Jesus as THE Beloved
Last week I introduced our year theme for Following Jesus: Being the Beloved – A Year of Spiritual Formation. We launched this theme with a week of fasting and prayer. Please feed back to our office or to me if you feel God is saying something to us – we want to hear and obey the Lord! Today I present the Big Picture, or the Overall Framework, of Being and Becoming God’s Beloved.
The Centrality and Heart of Love
“GOD is love, whoever lives in love lives in God and God in him/her” (1John 4:16). We dare not reverse it, “Love is God.” Then we make love (whatever we mean by it) god, as many do today in a popular postmodern “spirituality of love”. We love only because God first loved us (1John 4:19), enabling us to love as he loves. How so? God created us in his image in love for love. To love is godly. But our sin, our fallen nature, rejects the ultimate source of love, God. BUT God overcame sin in love. He came to save us in his Son Jesus, his enfleshed love, his sacrificial gift of Self. In Christ we receive and live in the Father’s love – which he knew so profoundly (John 17:23-26). Father confirmed Jesus’ identity as “Beloved” at his baptism, in the Spirit of Love: “You are my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). This is the center that centers us: God’s love, giving us our identity in Christ as “Beloved.” Paul says it so well: “Be imitators of God, as his beloved (born again) children: live a life of love, just as Jesus loved us” (Ephesians 5:1-2). Continue reading Being the Beloved: The Framework
Last year was about replanting and restoring health to our church, as “Following Jesus”. This year is about laying a firm foundation for a) spiritual growth, b) healthy community, and c) service to our world. This letter is not only my preaching notes, but sets the tone for the year as we begin laying the foundation, being guided by our chosen theme…
“Being the Beloved – A Year of Spiritual Formation”
It might sound weird! Being the what… ?? The word/idea of “Beloved” is significant and powerful in the Bible. It’s all about “be-loved” or “being loved”, which is difficult for most people. We have to learn how to be loved, how to receive love, and thus to love. They say, “Love makes the world go round!” Pretty close! God IS love… so, love is the center of the universe, making all things work – that is IF we receive his love and learn to love as he loves – then that’s heaven on earth! But if we don’t, we make hell on earth!
Being the (God’s) Beloved is about discovering our true selves. It’s about our identity as human becomings. The deepest source and definition of our identity is God’s love for us – not the myriads of other means of identity imposed on us, or that we choose. And it’s not the “feel-good-flowery-luuvvv” from Hollywood! It’s God’s love from eternity, enfleshed in its costly demonstration in Jesus of Nazareth. He lived and died for YOU, for ME, for our sin, our rejection of God’s love, so that we may turn and receive God’s love. In fact, Jesus was who he was, and did what he did, because he came to know how deeply God loved him as his Father – confirmed at his baptism in water when Father spoke from the heavens, “You are my Son, my Beloved, in whom I am well pleased”
That voice, that Spirit of Love, opened the heavens for Father’s love to flood and fill each one of us, so that we may learn to live in his love as Jesus did. All of life flows from that. It’s the source of healing and spiritual growth, community formation and social transformation – our focus for this year as we follow Jesus together. Why not take this journey very seriously and commit to Being (becoming) the Beloved? In effect, we will be unpacking our calling as a church, our Mission Statement: Following Jesus and making followers of him, learning to live a life of love just as Jesus loved us.
The text: John 21:15-23 (continue from previous sermon). The audio is available to listen online or download with notes.
This is Peter’s story: the emotional drama of how Jesus tenderly restores him, renewing his calling to follow… to minister… and to lead. How does Jesus do this?
Firstly, by the miracle of the large catch of fish (John 21:1-14), re-enacting Peter’s first encounter with Jesus, thus renewing his call to follow, form and fish (Luke 5:1-11).
Secondly, by making a fire of burning coals, re-enacting and reversing Peter’s threefold denial, which took place around a fire (read John 13:36-38 cf. John 18:15-18, 25-27).
Reflection: Jesus takes us back to unresolved pain and failure, to relive and resolve it in light of his intervening and healing presence. When & where has this happened for you?
Meditation on John 21:15-23: become silent before God; live into the scene by imagining you’re Peter around the fire, now warm and fed. Jesus probes your depths… the key issue is: Jesus wants to know if you truly love him – love for him to be THE motivation for your life, your following of him, your ministry, and leadership (if you’re a leader)
Jesus and his first community – to follow Jesus was to join his local group;
The Early Church – initiation into Christian faith (in baptism) meant belonging in the local church;
Three Sociological models of ‘doing church’ and their underlying values – we do ‘centered set’ church;
Our Ministry Framework – our mission, vision, values, priorities and practices (the circled triangle); and its structured implementation via HELP (Holistic Equipping Life Process) and the People’s Flow chart. Continue reading Exploring Membership with Following Jesus Session 6
FROM Session 4: Priorities and practices are what we actually do… what we do first, of most importance, before we do other things. They answer the question of What? we do, and How? we do them… i.e. our basic disciplines and skills that we learn to do and practice on a regular basis – in order to live out our core values, in pursuit of our vision, to fulfill our mission under God. Continue reading Exploring Membership with Following Jesus Session 5
SESSION 4: MINISTRY FRAMEWORK – HOW WE DO CHURCH AND MEMBERSHIP
The Sociological Framework contrasted three models of ‘doing church’ and membership – we embrace the centered set with its values. We now examine the Ministry Framework through which we do church – key information for a responsible commitment to Following Jesus. We lay out our mission and vision; values, priorities and practices; leadership, structure and programs; and the specific expectations of belonging and membership (the content of the remaining 3 sessions). Much of this key information, including our Vineyard history, is on our website http://followingjesus.org.za
I didn’t send out a report after this trip because when Gill and I got back home one of my teeth became seriously infected. I’ve been through two weeks of the most terrible pain. The short story is that I had to have dental surgery to extract the tooth and to scrape the infection from the jawbone. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy!! Anyway, I’m now recovering and I want to share with you our experience to thank those of you who prayed for us – God answered powerfully!
Anointing with oil
When I wrote Doing Healing, Randy Clarke from the USA wrote an endorsement for the book. He was the guy God used to start “The Toronto Blessing” in the mid 1990s. He has since left pastoral work and has started an international ministry called Global Awakening, with Schools of the Supernatural in various places, to equip followers of Jesus to do Kingdom ministry in the power of the Spirit. He sent a team to South Africa to set up a GSSM. It started in February 2011, hosted by Harvest Church in Umhlanga Rocks, Durban. Randy is on record as saying in a number of places that, in his view, Doing Healing is the best book on healing out there! What a commendation! What an honour!
Alexander teaching
So he invited me to teach Doing Healing at GSSM SA, from the Wednesday to the Friday, about 10 hours of teaching and practice. We were hosted with such generosity and kindness – treated like royalty!! There were 12 students and 5 staff members and one or two guests who came for the lectures. What great fun! I so enjoyed having quality time to teach eager students and then to practice ministry – for them to receive and to learn ministry. I was totally in my element, realizing that working with committed disciples/students who are in a structured process of learning, is one of the best things I can do with my time and energy. There is a real sense of impartation that takes place over a few days of intense time together in worship, prayer, teaching, discussion, and ministry.
Students ministering
Gill thoroughly enjoyed the trip as well, also getting stuck in during ministry times. We prayed for many students with a good flow of the prophetic gifts of the Spirit – insight, knowledge, wisdom, healing, deliverance, etc. There were some really strong power encounters and manifestations of the Spirit. Gill and I came home filled with joy and gratitude to God for such an awesome privilege that we can do this for God’s people. And what lovely people we met! We are the richer for the whole experience. We say thanks to Rosanne for hosting us, and to the GSSM staff and students for an amazing time together. Perhaps the best way to communicate something of the experience is to include an email from the GSSM administrator with brief comments from the students:
Ministering the kingdom
Hi Alexander,
Here are some of the comments/testimonies our students had following your time with us!
He was naturally supernatural, real and sincere…that really spoke to my heart
His love and compassion just flowed
He demonstrated the Word with power and love
One of the things Alexander said that really impacted me was, “the whole of me is
the most important part of me.”
“The prayer over me really touched me…healed a memory from many years ago.”
He spoke truth into “closed” areas of my heart
I learned a lot about discernment too and to hear what God is saying to me
They were also encouraged by the prayers and declarations spoken over them. The two students who received deliverance thank you for your compassion during the process.
Things during this school year have naturally been building…one teaching has built upon previous teachings and our students are seeing how their foundations are being firmed and strengthened. Thank you and Gill both for being a part of this process. You are both treasures 🙂
This blog – Alexander Venter – is the product of Alexander’s teaching ministry since January 1975 when he was ordained to ‘the ministry’ as a church planter and pastor. His years of experience, empowered by numerous significant relationships, has produced relevant resources in the form of teaching notes, audios, DVDs and books – to help all who want to follow Jesus, with a view to equipping them for life and ministry in God’s Kingdom. As a “teacher of God’s Word instructed in the Kingdom of Heaven, he brings out treasures from his storeroom, both old and new” (Matthew 13:52). This website makes some of these Kingdom treasures available to all who may be interested.
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