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BEING PREPARED Sunday, June 17, 2007
SONG SERVICE LAST WEEKS MESSAGE WEDNESDAY'S STUDY THE AUDIO WILL COME ON AUTOMATICALLY SUNDAY SERVICE JUNE 24, 2007
BROWN…AND ALL THE OTHER COLORS
THIS IS GOING TO BE A RATHER STRANGE AND “COLORFUL” MESSAGE. I ask for your patience because God made something clearer to me this week and I want to share it with you.
If you’ve grown up in a Christian home as part of a denomination and never left that denomination, then you have a pretty good idea what you believe and very little confusion. Unfortunately, you probably also have a very lopsided view of Doctrine and Theology. (I apologize in advance if today’s message steps on a few toes, but God really showed me something this week and I must share it.)
If, in contrast to growing up in one denomination or one ‘non-denomination’ (which is merely a denomination without a name…if you’ve “been around” and been a part of several denominations or maybe not part of a denomination at all, you may have experienced a variety of different views on Bible Theology.
I am Jewish and grew up not being familiar with the New Testament (or even the old). I came to the Lord in my early twenties and first worshipped in a Baptist church. I learned and believed the doctrine they taught, part of which was “believe the bible above all other voices”. This (ironically) led us to a “Full Gospel” ministry and to another church---a church that was a part of the Church of God—but not a typical Church of God. Eventually, thirty years ago, we were called into the ministry and learned Biblical Hebrew under a Presbyterian Minister. However, we were not Presbyterian. We were part of a Mission and, then, we studied to be ordained. We were ordained under the covering of the Assembly of God. Are you dizzy yet?
God sent us back to Miami, Florida, where we’d both grown up and we pastored a congregation there (we’re still pastors, but that’s another story). We started a Messianic Congregation as Assembly of God ministers and God had to teach us about Messianic Judaism and ministering to the Jewish people (even though we are Jewish). It was quite an educational process.
And speaking of an educational process, God also had to teach us a lot about theology and different denominational views of it. Here is the main thing we learned: WE DON’T KNOW IT ALL—WE NEVER WILL KNOW IT ALL—AND NO ONE ELSE KNOWS IT ALL EITHER.
Of course, there are those who don’t agree with that because they believe that you can know it all and, in fact they already do. You know what I mean? Maybe you’ve met some people like that. Hopefully, none of you are people like that or, if you are, you will listen to enough of this message before you write me off forever that you will realize that…
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW IT ALL AND, IN FACT, GOD NEVER MEANT FOR ANYONE OR ANY ONE GROUP TO KNOW IT ALL…
Now, if that hasn’t made you dizzy, hold on because this probably will. Even if you know that you don’t know everything---you probably have a good idea of what you believe about some major points. I mean other than the basics of our faith—like believing in Jesus, the Son of God, who came to earth to fulfill the law, to die for our sins, to take the keys of death and hell and go down and “lead captivity captive, to be resurrected, to ascend to the right hand of the Father where He ever lives to make intercession for us, and to return one day for His own.
Whew!! More than that? Sure there is. There are as many doctrines flying around as there are preachers. Turn on TBN and some other channels; there are people and ministries that will preach from one end of the spectrum to the other. They will tell you that we shouldn’t ever be sick or afflicted or that we will all be sick and afflicted—that everything good is in Heaven or everything good is on earth—that we should all be rich or we should all be poor...or that none of us should be either. They will say that should have our every dreams fulfilled or that we never have any dream fulfilled here on earth; that we should never have what we want---an on and on and on. Some people say healing is for everyone and if you’re not healed there is something wrong with you while others at the other end of the spectrum have said that God doesn’t heal anymore (although I have NEVER heard this on TBN, I have been told this by a sister in the Lord).
SUCH DIFFERING VIEWS AND SUCH CONFUSION! SUCH EXTREMES!
Well, this week, I decided that I had had it! I read a letter that went to one extreme and then watched a program that went to the other extreme--- then another program that got pretty far in the same direction. I felt like my brain would get fried if I continued. It got me thinking very deeply and asking God about all this. I asked God “Why is this happening? Why so much confusion? Who is right and who is wrong?”
This is what God said to me—He said “Brown!”(How do you like the brown font? Isn’t that effective...lol?)
Can you imagine asking God this question and hearing the word “brown”?
Okay, so by now you must think I’ve pretty much slipped over the edge and the strain of it all was just too much for me. Bear with me—I’m almost there.
When God said “brown” I did have a moment of confusion---until He began to elaborate and directed my poor little brain down the path He wanted it to go. You know, He speaks to each of us in a way that we can understand. If He speaks to a scientist He would give the person scientific illustrations, whereas He might give a chef illustrations about food. I am an artist and, many times, God gives me illustrations about ART. God told me to think of the Color Wheel. A color wheel has many colors on it.
THE COLOR “BROWN” IS MADE UP OF A COMBINATION OF ALL THREE OF THE PRIMARY COLORS---RED, YELLOW, AND BLUE. When I mix paint on my palette, if I want to mix a brown color, I would use red and green—or red, blue and yellow. Green is of course a combination of blue and yellow. YOU CANNOT GET BROWN WITH JUST ONE PRIMARY COLOR—OR EVEN TWO---YOU MUST HAVE ALL THREE.
When I asked God “which one has the truth?” and God answered me with the word “brown”, He was telling me that in order to get the whole truth, you must have all the primary colors—not just one or even two—but all!
GOD SAVES US AND BRINGS US INTO THE BODY OF CHRIST. WE BECOME MEMBERS OF A BODY AND ALL OF US, TOGETHER ARE THE BODY. WE NEED EVERY PART OF THE BODY TO BE WHOLE. THAT REFERS TO US AS INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS AND IT ALSO REFERS TO DIFFERENT “SECTIONS” OF THE BODY. WE NEED ALL OF THE BODY AND THE KNOWLEDGE, GIFTS, AND ANOINTING EACH BRINGS IN ORDER TO BE WHOLE.
Think of the Body of Christ as all the colors of the color wheel.
1 CORINTHIANS 12:12For just as the body is a unity and yet has many parts, and all the parts, though many, form [only] one body, so it is with Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)…. 14For the body does not consist of one limb or organ but of many.
UNTIL WE COME INTO PERFECT UNITY—WHICH WE ALL KNOW HAS NOT YET HAPPENED---HERE IS HOW WE OPERATE…
Ephesians 4 4There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 7But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 9(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
11And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
OKAY, SO NOW WE UNDERSTAND ‘BROWN’—A MIXTURE OF THE PRIMARY COLORS IN VARIOUS PROPORTIONS. But, God didn’t stop His little message to me with “Brown”. He also said “Black and white—and all that’s in between.”
HERE WE GO AGAIN! If we mix all the colors together what would we have? Believe it or not, THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT ANSWERS. One is “black” and one is “white”. It depends on whether you ask a scientist or an artist.
If I am painting and I want to mix up the color ‘black’, I would mix all the colors together—red, yellow, and blue until it was totally saturated---and I would have black.
But that’s not true of the colors of the spectrum. Huh?
If you put all the colors of the spectrum together, you get WHITE!! When I first learned this I was sooo confused.
YOU CAN READ ALL ABOUT THIS (later—not now, I hope) if you go to: http://www.colormatters.com/vis_bk_white.html and here is a small excerpt:
Is white a color? No white is not a color.
Wikepedia definition of WHITE: Technically speaking, white is a color, but it is also the combination of all the colors of the visible light spectrum.[1] It is sometimes described as an achromatic color, like black.
BUT HERE IS THE TRULY SCIENTIFIC ANSWER TO… Is black a color? No, black is not a color; a black object absorbs all the colors of the visible spectrum and reflects none of them to the eyes. Is white a color? Yes, white is a color. White reflects all the colors of the visible light spectrum to the eyes.
So, what on Earth am I talking about and how does it apply to this message? (I’m sure you’re wondering by now).
Here it is…when God talked to me about “black and white” He was telling me to consider EVERYTHING---painting and art, the color spectrum and light and science—and he was also telling me to look at the wide variety of people He has put on this planet. The very fact that God made PEOPLE in such a wide variety of colors is awesome and prophetic. And, get this: GOD MADE PEOPLE IN ‘EARTH TONES’! THE SKY APPEARS TO US AS BLUE, VIOLET, OR BLUE-GREEN MOST OF THE TIME AND THE WATERS APPEAR TO US AS SHADES AND HUES OF GREEN, BLUE, AND VIOLET, BUT EARTH TONES ARE BROWN AND RUST AND RED AND ALMOST BLACK AND GRAY AND SAND COLORED—ETC.
HERE ARE SOME INTERESTING FACTS OF LIFE. INTERPRET THEM AS YOU WISH.
1. God gave people skin that could reflect light and appear anywhere from almost black to almost white (albinos)—all the earth tones.
2. But God gave people eyes of colors that can reflect light and appear blue or green as well as brown or black (almost)—all the colors of water and sky and earth.
3. Nobody is truly black even though they might be very dark brown and appear almost pure black. Nobody is pure white, even an albino, although they may appear to be almost white. The truth is that nobody is pure anything.
4. Eye color: nobody has truly black eyes even though they might appear that way and nobody has white eyes even though some people might have very light gray eyes. (Nobody “sees” things absent of color or with total color you might say)
SO LET’S PUT ALL THIS TOGETHER: If you want to see the total picture, you need to see every color in its proper place. If you want total truth, you cannot see things in a lopsided or one-sided way. You cannot go to extremes that aren't supported by scripture.
If you want beauty in your life, take a lesson from an artist. If I want to paint a picture—or even do a drawing—I need more than one color. I need black and white for a line drawing; I need black white and shades of gray for a drawing with depth and shading; I need other colors if I am doing a painting. AND, if I want to do a landscape and/or a seascape or even a portrait of a human being, I will need all three primary colors and probably mix them to just about every color in between.
OR WE COULD SAY IT LIKE THIS…IF WE WANT BALANCE AND BEAUTY IN OUR LIVES---WE NEED EACH OTHER--WE NEED THE WHOLE BODY OF CHRIST!
Ephesians 4:15If the foot should say, Because I am not the hand, I do not belong to the body, would it be therefore not [a part] of the body? 16If the ear should say, Because I am not the eye, I do not belong to the body, would it be therefore not [a part] of the body? 17If the whole body were an eye, where [would be the sense of] hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where [would be the sense of] smell? 18But as it is, God has placed and arranged the limbs and organs in the body, each [particular one] of them, just as He wished and saw fit and with the best adaptation. 19But if [the whole] were all a single organ, where would the body be? 20And now there are [certainly] many limbs and organs, but a single body. 21And the eye is not able to say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. 22But instead, there is [absolute] necessity for the parts of the body that are considered the more weak.
WE ALL NEED EACH OTHER FOR EVERY POSSIBLE REASON. WE NEED ALL OF THE BODY OF CHRIST AND WE CANNOT DESPISE A PORTION OF IT.
AND WHAT ABOUT THEOLOGY? Well, if we want the true and total picture, it’s not just all black and it’s not just all white (one extreme or the other). It’s brown, black, white, and every color in between. God has given the members of the Body of Christ revelation. No one knows everything and no one has the total truth. We need one another and we can never just throw out what the other parts of the body are saying. The problem is and has been that a person or a group will get “A truth” (which is much different from “THE truth”) and they will take that truth and run with it—thinking it’s the WHOLE truth and nothing but the truth.
Life would be easier for us if everything were either black or white. Kind of like dieting would be easier if we could just give up all food. But, we have to eat. The key to life and the key to understanding is “BALANCE”...that little concept that drives most fanatics and know-it-all’s crazy?
So, are you clear about that or confused. Personally, I think it’s as clear as black and white.
I’ll quit now. I pray that you will take this message to heart in the way I meant it—to bring us all together and not to divide us.
God bless you. |
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