Sermon attached

A few days ago I encountered a book by Nancy Missler with a picture of an eagle on the cover and the foreword- written in 1999 was by another Bible Translator who said exactly the same words as are the theme of this-Cool! Reformation Ground Zero If you compare my thoughts to those whom I respect- genuinely learn from and at times endorse at times am their worst critic- But love and respect is key here- I have it; for Rick Joyner, Rob Bell, David Pawson and Prof Derek Prince- and sorry if you reading this I missed out your name but I will leave a gap here and just put your name into that gap and on Judgment Day in heaven when this document appears with your name there in the gap- You can be sure that I will be respecting you too- Your Gap ; Right where were we. Yes Respect-Love- desire to work together despite our different ways of seeing things. My son tells me that is a horrible word- Anarchism- Whatever! But at least three years ago- Before he made big time with front page of Time Magazine April 2011 time when David Wilkerson died- And there is another name for our list- I disagree with David on numerous counts but that is irrelevant what he does say which is important I work with… So Rob Bell’s cover appearance in a real way kicks off in terms of international recognition this next at least 400 years of Reformation- 400 years since Calvinism arrived in New England with English and Dutch and other Europeans and 500 years since Martin Luther began to do and say things- Ample time now for another Reformation! And Rob Bell was last time I heard him preaching working his way painfully slowly through the Beatitudes- and so picking up on what he was saying I want to reinforce that message with a few comments about the first one spoken by Jesus- Let us Pray. Master I Am we ask that you will now regardless of the distractions and the thoughts we have in our minds our reactions to things going on- that you will here in this special moment reveal your word and plant it firmly in our hearts to grow so that it will not be snatched away and we will have a vital building block apostolically laid here now for the Reformation currently developing Amen. Right the words are and I have my Greek New Testament open Matthew chapter five verse three and it says in Greek; Makarioi oi putochoi puenmatai- and yes time for our Greek jokes- I know a little Greek he owns a fruit shop in Melbourne Australia. Or the absolute Classic Response is –‘Well it is all Greek to me’ So taking the easy way out here close the Greek New Testament and reach for the dictionary. So modern translations are the product of an American called Godspeed. And one of his break through translations is our first word-which becomes ‘Happy’- Trust me he put in the hundreds of hours working that out so that is the word we will use here- No disputes OK –Best translation of the first word! Oi- Forget it some Greek grammar expert can bore us with a lecture but we will here ignore it because it is small and just adds to the flow and we don’t want flow we need here-Impact! Foundation! Next word; Abbot Smith Greek Lexicon- ….’to be poor as a beggar- destitute…’So destitute it is! And this being such a vital word I will come back for a second bite and back translate to the word in Hebrew which I know Jesus was saying and thinking –Rev 19:10 is how I know what ‘the Word is!’ And last word- comes into English as blowing things- Spirit will do. ‘Happy Destitute Spirits’ That when or if I get to officially translating in the Pathetic Attempt Translation of the bible is what I will be putting in there. Happy Destitute Spirits is the Refomational Foundation upon which I as an apostle of that Reformation build. Now to close flip back to the first use of the word ‘Jesus’ Hebrew word ‘salvation’ found anywhere in the bible. Yes you smart people with Wigram Hebrew Concordance have it nailed down –It is in the part of my Hebrew Bible which has unbound itself from over use- Gen 4:4 where two Hebrew words are side by side-Jesus LORD just to use the horrible way others translate. Or I would put it as ‘salvation/Jesus I Am’ and why does that occur there. We someone called Abel has just given a sacrifice of a lamb and got in exchange- Jesus or salvation- What he got take your pick! But getting back to our thinking in Matthew the Hebrew word that wants to naturally slip into where the Greek word for ‘destitute’ is –Is Nabal- the Hebrew swear word ____ Yes it has four letters First letter C last letter T and somewhere in between a U and N. Word. And in terms of a Hebrew Root Nabal and Abel are in the same list of words the concept which links them both is the idea of a liquid flowing away. Abel is then and if you are preaching this sermon then do the John Sung Style so that everyone in the room always remembers the meaning of Abel. Get a water bottle and remove the top and tip the water bottle upside down so that the water flows out on the expensive church carpet- shock horror. And then the empty bottle with the liquid- in Abel’s case his blood poured out so that the earth drinks it up- The container has become empty- Destitute. Abel-Nabal and I won’t remind you that it is a Hebrew swear word or what in current language that frequently heard word is will I because we are trying to be respectable here. Which is my point- Destitute Respectability has gone. Ground Zero for the 2011 Reformation- Listen to the tape-pod cast- Rob Bell on the Beatitudes –He is saying the same thing as I am here just we have quite different ministries and ways of communicating but the same page the same message-Empty. Happy is Abel. Why because in exchange for the sacrifice of his life given in place of his lamb Sacrifice. First human death first murder first crime first acceptable sacrifice to God he gets given Jesus. Nothing in my hand I bring simply to thy cross I cling I surrender all- all to Jesus I surrender- I surrender all. Lay it all down at the foot of the cross. Look I am preaching an utterly familiar gospel here. Every time and I am danger of doing it again soon. Every time I as an apostle move into a new area of ministry I literally give away everything and in St Pauls final move in ministry it was the afternoon wine poured on the altar sacrifice- his life blood too. Lay it all down. Luke chapter 10- turning up destitute. When I arrive in this city I have three dollars I was destitute. Now cash it up we would as a family have easily 200 thousand times that amount of money…A lot for me to give away! So I can begin again- Abel- All poured out. Nothing and you as a preacher here can really lay it on. But only if genuinely you have done and in coming days will again give it all away. The wife of Derek Prince in the 1920s wealthy woman- gave it all away turns up in Jerusalem- Destitute but knowing God has her in the right place doing the right thing. Gladys Alywood same 1920s goes to the railway station in London setting out for China in winter- there is a war going on Trans Siberian which she hopes to travel on- Utterly pathetic- Destitute- Unlikely Saint- Only Jesus believes in her. Nothing in my hand I bring simply to thy cross I cling. Loved not their lives- Abel all poured out.Preach it! I’ve just noticed something interesting –All my witnesses are from a poor decade for the church- 1920s. A Professor fighting the KJV to get a readable bible. A brilliant student at Union Theological NY thrown in a lunatic asylum with only a bible to read- And he did! A Scandinavian woman doing 20 years diplomatic work leading up to in 48 in her Jerusalem the establishment of Israel- looking after waifs and strays including a lost Classics Professor who came to help her with the family- And the unlikely servant girl who worked in the home of England’s greatest Asian Explorer- Doing better so that now as a result we have World Vision. And the Professor gave us DPM. They still tell John Sung revival stories in China…But the common theme among these great saints is that at some point they came to the end of themselves- were destitute, but trusting in God. The Small Woman story begins with the body of Miss Alywood dumped at the door of a mission hospital in Central China and out of this tiny suffering woman a story so fantastic that Hollywood turned it into a movie emerges. But no more unlikely that the Professor level Chinese student throwing all his qualifications into the sea to instead preach revival and teach bible in China. When we get to the end of ourselves. To the end of our resources. When it is utterly hopeless and we have nothing- literally nothing by our faith in Jesus risen from the dead-Happy Destitute Spirits.