Yesterday I had the opportunity to hear Ray Vander Laan speak (known for "That the World May Know" series). What a fantastic experience! If you've seen Ray's videos, he's very informative, but lacks intesity. That Ray is no more; he's on fire.
He spoke about praying for the fire within for years without seeing results. At some point, however, someone (might have been a Rabbi) told him that the fire didn't start within; it started outside him - in,with, and under (my Lutheran faith coming through) the Word of God.
Think Jeremiah 23:29 - God's Word is a fire.
Do you want fire? Read the book! Read it, learn it, know it, live it, devour it. The fire within doesn't start within - it's set ablaze by the Word!
And that was just five minutes of the seminar!
He also talked about The Western Mind (abstract, propositional, definition, systematic, etc.) and The Eastern Mind (concrete, story, word pictures, saying, question). Both are needed - not one at the expense of the other. (That got me thinking about another area of recent study - the emerging church- more to come another time.)
A couple points of interest:
1. Why didn't Jesus just stand up an announce, "Hey I'm the Messiah and here are 52 proof texts"?
Because nobody would have listened - at least not anyone from the Eastern mindset. So, what did Jesus do? He gave living, visual evidence He was the Messiah. Want specifics? Ask.
2. What did it mean to be a disciple?
EVERYTHING! Disciples (called Talmadim) followed their Rabbi everywhere. They sought to walk in the way of God by walking like their Rabbi walked - who walked in the way of God. VanderLaan gave the image of walking so closely to your Rabbi that you would get dusty from the dust he kicked up. In short, Jesus didn't call admirers. He didn't call people to give assent to an idea. He called people to follow Him! To live like/with Him. Are you dusty?
Other topics addressed: significance of Galilee regions, schools of Judaism (Beth Sefer, Beth Midrash, Beth Talmud), becoming talmudim, age of disciples when called, binding and loosing, tzitzit, kanaf, and tallit, the use of Allusion ("Remez"), the Kingdom of Heaven, Exodus event's connection to Passover celebration, the institution of Lord's Supper, the non-drinking of the cup of protection, the Night of Watching in Gethsemane, and the drinking of the Elijah cup.
Want to talk about one? Post.
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1 comment:
What did Ray say about the Lord's Supper? Did he talk about its context and practice in the early church and the Catholic church?
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