To Dwell Below with Saints We Know I am a third-generation missionary. My grandmother rode yaks in Tibet. And my mother rode jeeps in Indonesia. Missions is in my blood, a heritage I wish to pass on to my three daughters. Women did as much, went as far, and died on the fields as often as their male missionary peers. They challenged harmful and unrighteous customs, they starved to death along with nationals, they were raped, they buried children and husbands, they established female mission societies and traveled in evangelistic bands. Their names were legendary, and inspired thousands of young women to follow in their footsteps.
Spiritual Gifts Revelation 1: Charismata Theory, Assessment, Problem-solving Spiritual Gifts Revelation 2: Miracles by the Book Both by Jack Snyder 2008
Snyder Bible Home All Sermons Go Straight to Message Preview How to Get Along with Difficult People Florence Littauer
Deuteronomy 28: 1. “But if you faithfully obey the voice of Yahweh your Elohim, by keeping and observing all his commandments, which I am laying down for you today, Yahweh your Elohim will raise you higher than every other nation in the world, 2. and all these blessings will befall and overtake you, for having obeyed the voice of Yahweh your Elohim. 3. You will be blessed in the town and blessed in the countryside; 4. blessed, the offspring of your body, the yield of your soil, the yield of your livestock, the young of your cattle and the increase of your flocks; 5. blessed, your basket and your kneading trough. 6. You will be blessed in coming home, and blessed in going out. 7. The enemies who attack you, Yahweh will defeat before your eyes; they will advance on you from one direction and flee from you in seven. 8. Yahweh will command blessedness to be with you, on your barns and on all your undertakings, and he will bless you in the country given you by Yahweh your Elohim. 9. “From you Yahweh will make a people consecrated to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of Yahweh your Elohim and follow his ways. 10. The peoples of the world, seeing that you bear Yahweh’s name, will all be afraid of you. 11. Yahweh will make you abound in possessions: in the offspring of your body, in the yield of your cattle and in the yield of your soil, in the country that he swore to your ancestors that he would give you. 12. For you Yahweh will open his treasury of rain, the heavens, to give your country its rain at the right time, and to bless all your labors. You will make many nations your subjects, yet you will be subject to none. 13. “Yahweh will put you at the head, not at the tail; you will always be on top and never underneath, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your Father, which I am laying down for you today, and then keep them and put them into practice.” Deut 28:1-13; Gal 3:27-29 Human Relations Sunday - the theme is a "Christian" attitude toward people who are different.” To dwell above with saints we love, That will be grace and glory. To live below with saints we know; Now, that’s another story! Galatians 3: 27. As many of you as were baptized into Messiah have clothed yourselves with Messiah. 28. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Messiah Yahshua. 29. And if you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise. The PREMISE (foundational assumption) behind the Apostle’s teaching is that those to whom he is speaking are genuine believers in the biblical sense: {27} As many of you as were baptized into Messiah have clothed yourselves with Messiah 1. “you were baptized into Messiah” - passive - it happened to you - you have become a passive recipient of Father’s unmerited favor. For “by grace you are saved....” Baptism thus means going through the gateway of a new Kingdom - although believers are still in the world, they are no longer to be worldly; that is, following the customs, traditions, and prejudices of the world 2. “you have clothed yourself in Messiah” - active - You do it by taking on the customs of this new Kingdom; this has to do with belief and faith first, but from such faith a change in attitude toward other Believers is essential and required. From the Letter to Diognetus, 2nd century AD. Christians are not differentiated from other people by country, language or customs; they do not live in cities of their own, or speak some strange dialect, or have some peculiar lifestyle. They follow local customs in clothing, food and the other aspects of life. But at the same time, they demonstrate to us the wonderful and certainly unusual form of their own citizenship, [for] like citizens, they share all things with others; but like aliens, suffer all things. Every foreign country is to them as their native country, and every native land as a foreign country. They marry and have children like every one else; but they do not kill unwanted babies. They offer a shared table, but not a shared bed. They are at present “in the flesh” but they do not live “according to the flesh”. They are passing their days on earth, but are citizens of heaven. They love every one, but are persecuted by all. They are put to death and gain life. They are poor and yet make many rich. They are short of everything and yet have plenty of all things. They are dishonored and yet gain glory. Their names are blackened and yet they are cleared. They are mocked and bless in return. They are treated outrageously and behave respectfully to others. When they do good, they are punished as evildoers; when punished, they rejoice as if being given new life. To put it simply -- Christians are in the world but not of the world. Does this ancient excerpt describe you? Are you “not of this world?” If you call yourself a believer, yet there is no radical change in your attitude and lifestyle from before, of what effect is the cross to you? Are you living as though you were “clothed in Messiah?” Or are you just a cheap imitation -- a counterfeit -- a hypocrite -- a weed in the wheat crop? Friends, if you are truly converted as you say you are, then the principles of the new life are supposed to be written on your heart, so there should be little need for telling you how to relate to different others. Nevertheless, because of our carnality the Apostle finds it necessary to put a principle down on parchment so that there can be no doctrinal dispute about it. That Kingdom PRINCIPLE (foundational ideal) of Human Relations is found in verse {28}: There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Messiah Yahshua. 1. “Jew / Greek” deals with racial distinctions; Yahshua was a Jew - the same kind of person that is so hated in Europe that millions have been put to death in this century. 2. “slave / free” deals with class distinctions; Yahshua was low-class, poor, impoverished; laying in rags in a foul barn. 3. “male / female” deals with gender distinctions {DISCURSION: Women in the ministry: Fran Love, church planter in Indonesia: I am a third-generation missionary. My grandmother rode yaks in Tibet. And my mother rode jeeps in Indonesia. Missions is in my blood, a heritage I wish to pass on to my three daughters. Women did as much, went as far, and died on the fields as often as their male missionary peers. They challenged harmful and unrighteous customs, they starved to death along with nationals, they were raped, they buried children and husbands, they established female mission societies and traveled in evangelistic bands. Their names were legendary, and inspired thousands of young women to follow in their footsteps.} 4. “for all are one” restates that in Messiah, there are no longer racial, class, or sexual distinctions when it come to status as heirs to the Kingdom of Father . Jerome’s: “...Secondary differences vanish through the effects of this primary incorporation of believers into Messiah’s body through ‘one Spirit.’“ Hey, your best suit of clothing is as impressive to Father  as filthy rags. The only reason you are in the Kingdom at all is because of the grace of Father . What our scripture is telling you about Father ’s grace is that, if you claim to be in Messiah Yahshua, then you are one with the niggers, whatever color they are; and you are one with the poor drug-addicted white trash, and you are one with the diseased harlot and the bag lady. The good news is that the ones who have suffered discrimination on your account are also one with you. Remember the great high priestly prayer of our Lord in the garden of his agony: 17: {20} Father, I ask ... also on behalf of those who will believe in me through the word of those you have given me, {21} that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. {22} The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, {23} I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:20-23 NRSV) Yahshua  didn’t come and die for self-righteous, stuck-up Methodists, but for the poor in spirit. Father ’s grace toward you better be reflected in your attitude toward others, or you may find later that you were never “in with the in crowd” after all. Rather, you may find yourself on the outside hungrily looking in -- thirsty, sick -- a naked foreigner to the Kingdom of Father . Surrender your life to Messiah  now, while you can. If you already have, then treat others as though you were His child and not the child of the world only, and you will inherit the good things promised to Abraham, the father of many nations. So the PROMISE (foundational covenant) is that: {29} ... if you belong to Messiah , then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise. 1. Heirs to what? Deuteronomy 28:1b ...the LORD your Father  will set you high above all the nations of the earth. This promise has a parallel in the New Testament - that if you humble yourself then Father  will exalt you. You will rule and reign with Messiah over the nations. Now, if you have ears to hear, then understand that you are already ruling with Messiah - or are supposed to be. Does Father need you to be a bigoted, self-serving tyrant in his world? No -- there are plenty of devils to do that job. 2. So your inheritance of the promise to Abraham is conditional, ‘if ... then,’ ‘if you belong to Messiah’ means, in this context, if you no longer regard your brother or sister less than yourself on account of racial differences; if you no longer regard your brother or sister less than yourself on account of economic or social class differences; if you no longer regard your brother or sister less than yourself on account of sexual or socio-sexual differences; then you manifest the qualifications that make for true unity in Messiah  - and thus you are fit to be the heirs of Abraham and of the promises of Abraham through his offspring, Messiah Yahshua. And... it depends on each one of us individually and collectively to prove to the world that we are righteous co-rulers with Messiah, for “they’ll know we are Christians by our love” despite the distinctions of race, class, or sex. INVITATION TO CONFESSION A March 1984 malfunction in a 500,000 volt line in Northern California triggered a chain reaction that darkened lights in six states. The trouble came at rush hour, causing tremendous traffic backups from there to Mexico. The trouble originated at a tiny electrical substation, 100 miles south of the Oregon border. A circuit breaker tripped, which caused a shutting down of circuits all over the West as the machinery protected itself from damage. How dramatically the breakdown proved our dependence on our country’s electrical supply for power, transportation, and food! One little circuit breaker tripped in a remote area, and hundreds of miles away millions of people’s lives instantly changed. We really are one people in more ways than we think. What affects one affects many, perhaps all. The unity of our church is no different, especially when it comes to bias, discrimination, and prejudice. The good attitude one person shows makes righteousness easier for all. The bad example, the bigot, the racist, the sexist among us negatively affects us all here in the church and our witness out there. Father’s people as the mystical Body of Messiah, whoever they are, wherever and however they live, are linked into a grid of interdependence from which they can never escape. Bound to one another as separate parts of the whole, what affects one becomes part of all. Friends, A little yeast ferments the whole loaf. Father  has a warning for each of us today - Don’t be the yeast that ruins this little lump right here at <G> Church. Are you a racist? An elitist? A sexist? Don’t anyone say ‘no’ - for somewhere deep within each of us lies the seeds of these mortal sins. Friends, if we are to “live below with the saints we know,” then it is most urgent that we identify these seeds within us and repent and be restored. I Believe it’s time for a confession.... Merciful Father, we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart.  We have failed to be an obedient church.  We have not done your will, we have broken your law, we have rebelled against your love, we have not loved our neighbors, and we have not heard the cry of the needy.  Forgive us, we pray.  Free us for joyful obedience, through Yahshua Messiah  our Sovereign.  Amen. Jackson Snyder, January 19, 1997	Friend, you will be amazed to find the wonderful truths of the earliest Eastern Christianity in these volumes, including the Letter to Diognetus, quoted below - which has been discovered to be a letter to the Emperor Trajan regarding his persecution of Christians.  Look! Early Christian Greek & Latin Literature: A Literary History, 2 Volumes By Claudio Moreschini & Enrico Norelli / Hendrickson Publishers Early Christian writings form a body of literature that has shaped Western culture as a whole, as Enrico Norelli and Claudio Moreschini demonstrate in this comprehensive book. The first six centuries of Christian experience impacted art and developed a philosophy that faced opposition, resolved internal conflicts, transposed itself into medieval civilization, and continues to influence culture today. Available for the first time in English, this book highlights the special character of the gospel message, the nucleus of every Christian literary form. The earliest Christian works from the first through the fourth centuries are presented along with respected contemporary writings in the first volume. The second volume moves to the Golden Age of Christian literature. The major personalities of the time: Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, all writers of the highest rank are matched with Greek-speaking authors such as Athanasius, the Cappadocians, and John Chrysostom, thinkers to whom present-day Christians turn once again for spiritual direction. This two-volume edition organizes the material in chronological order. Each segment's detailed discussion concludes with an up-to-date bibliography. It also includes a general bibliography, and each volume includes an index of authors and anonymous works. Specialists in classics and medieval studies, as well as general theologians, art historians, archaeologists, and other students of culture will find in this work an in-depth survey, quality scholarship, and an original approach. Claudio Moreschini is Professor of Latin Literature at the University of Pisa. He has published critical editions of Tertullian, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Apuleius. Among his translations are the works of Gregory of Nyssa and his essays include discussions of Boethius, Latin neo-Platonism, and the Cappadocian Fathers. Enrico Norelli is Professor of Apocryphal Christian Literature in the theological faculty of the University of Geneva. Among his publications are editions of Mathetes' Ad Diognetus, Hyppolytus's De antichristo and a commentary on the Ascension of Isaiah. He was editor of the collective work La Bibbia nell'antichita cristiana and is co-editor of the collection Poche Apocryphes.