A Freaked-Out Mindset

It's the End of the World as We Know It. Reflecting on 2011 and Welcoming 2012

2012-01-09T09:10:00.000-08:00

Here we are 2012! So...what do you believe? Literal end of the world? False prophecy? Maybe, a sort of end?

One thing is for sure, it is an end to 2011, and I want to share my last year with you. It has been quite a year, encouraging as I sit here and read through my notes.

Quick recap. If you read the notes from last years recap, I went through major transitions in my life, pretty much my trip to Israel did alot in my life and changed everything. I will forever be in awe of God's providential ways. So, truthfully, as I got into 2011 I was still coming to terms with alot of the change in my life and working through things. Everything from lifestyle, relationships, theology, focus, was "under construction".

Getting right into the year I committed myself to God, looked to Matthew 6:33 as the focus of my life, and felt God was encouraging me, leading me, and gifting me as I committed to Him. As many know, ushering in the new year also led to growth in a friendship with Quanti which led to what I call "the ADD factor". I truly believe that as I sought God who knows my heart, he brought the blessing of Quanti into my life. More on that later...

So the beginning of the year was filled with self-examination, a true dying to self, and allow God to break me down in order to build me back up (now that requires faith, but man let me tell you!!). Fact of the matter is that just as the Word says, God finds His glory in our weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9). I continually prayed for God to give me the zeal I had previously had and even re-read the book Primal by Mark Batterson to get my mind right. Yet the time was not yet.

"But what you need is a vision from God that captures your imagination and consumes your energy" -Mark Batterson

The above statement became my resolution for 2011, and I began to recognize that God would lead me in ways to love him with my intelligence (mind), honor my seeking of Him (heart), reaching the lost (soul), and strength aka perseverence. My mornings and afternoons were full of prayer (I had also committed to journaling) and felt the call to rise up, and recognize the fact that as Christians we are a chosen generation, and continually instilled in myself that I was walking by the faith of Abraham (Hebrews 11).

The powerful prayer I felt welled up inside me came from understanding salvation, the good news it truly was, and how at that point I understood it so clearer because I was drawing near to God, and He was following His promise to draw near to me. This led me to feel the burden to live "out of the catacombs". Quanti, was an amazing blessing in my life, truly the Eve in my life, and together we searched through Scripture, and she would provide amazing insights- starting at Genesis (Quanti, do you remember our 90 days? :).

Right from the beginning of the year I had the burdens of a missional reformer seeking to lead many to Christ, but also reformer the body of Christ in the process. Honestly though, I felt dry, needed to fill up on the holy water of God and continued to pray about it.

Understanding that we are living in the new heavens and new earth brought much to the table, concerning the leaves of the tree that were for the healing of the nations. I felt called, as I still do, to truly bring that healing. Looking at 2 Corinthians chapter 4 in reference to Romans chapter 12, I saw the truth in the fact that the Old Covenant had been done away with and the renewal brought us into the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

My ever-reforming relationship with Quanti was a big deal all throughout 2011, and will continue for the rest of my life, God willing :). In February I did the "name all things" and we began to official date, and I continually reminded myself of Matthew 6:33, and that she was the daughter of my King! I prayed to love her, honor her, her her pursue the life she wanted to live in Christ, and to truly manifest Ephesians 6:22-33.

The gospel of Jesus, the need for souls to be saved, and the historical legacy was continually on my mind (that pretty much sums up why I am the way I am, ha ha ha).

prayed God keep His gospel ever before my eyes (Glorious gospel, salvation of souls, and the historical legacy)- this is why we do this! Ephesians 1 continually brought me energy. It was natural, and to quote a random quote, "worship is an outward expression of an inward reality".

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled (Matthew 5:6)".

Throughout the middle of the year as I continued to grow in my understanding of the gospel and live as a modern day apostle, it would ever so often offer me the opportunity for debate and dialogue. I began to take serious the command to defend the faith delivered to the Apostles, and realized it was through the Scriptures alone that strongholds would be demolished. I prayed and prayed for humility (as I still do) in teaching the truth in love, yet coming in dispute with false teachings and doctrines, those who would label be a "heretic" which I earned this year by teaching true doctrine through the Consider Yesterday series on Youtube.

In defense of the gospel, I began to have what I call "Luther moments". It hurt to be ostracised at times, but I was encouraged by the Spirit that what I was doing what right. I began to read through Alan Hirsch's books for encouragement yet again.

"...tamed by tradition, captivated by culture, and controlled by our desire to fit in"- quoted from Untamed, which is such a true statement and is hindering many from having a true life in Christ. Many churches and pastors are seeking to domesticate Christians rather than truly disciple them.

As I grew in the truth of salvation in Christ, the truth of the Scriptures, and a better understanding of the Preterist doctrine, I began to have some come in direct opposition with me. At that point I inititated PLAN BE: Be the Change You Want to See in the World. Seriously, think about all the gripes people have, especially Christians in the Church. So, I lauched The Fellowship C.H.U.R.C.H. on June 25, 2011. Granted, starting a church wasn't exactly on the agenda for the year, but after giving up my internship to follow the Scriptures, I felt led to start what I would call "the solution".

In the midst of writing my book, Freaked-Out by the New Covenant", this was hard but it was such a blessing, and is continuing to challenge me. I must say, I owe alot to Quanti for the persevering attitude.

So here I sit, January 9, 2012 reflecting on a year that has brought me into missional debates with so many people- Unitarian Univeralists, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses. A year that has offered me the opportunity to disciple people in the truth of Scripture and lead some to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. A year that through my personal growth has allowed me to visioneer and begin to pastor The Fellowship C.H.U.R.C.H., and to truly be an opinion leader, might I dare say a sort of social gadfly, in the Christian Church. Truly a year of awe and answered prayer, and is leading me into a reborn perspective in the kingdom of God (we have to love how God works).

Granted, I must admit....the resolutions for 2011 didn't go all that well. I still do not have my own car, I haven't read through the entire Greek and Hebrew Bible (although, I have done fairly well, thanks to Q for buying me one :)). I have not memorized any books of the Bible, and did not learn any new languages. I did however study systematic theology and develop a good framework, finished writing my book, graduated college, planted a church, have continually worked on my personal integrity/ honesty and compassion. I imagine I accomplished a bit more on my bucket list this year as well- yes, I went on a cruise with Q to the Bahamas!!! woohoo!

As far as 2012, man it has already started pretty darn amazing. Entering into the year with the mindset of being famous for the glory of Jesus, I seek to accomplish big things! Some resolutions include getting involved with radio (both speaking and listening), I want to buy thrift, start a sort of daily work out regimen, live with a free, passionate engaging attitude as I launch my tour- "End Your World 2012"....living with a zeal empowered by knowledge.
(http://www.zealempoweredbyknowledge.com). I seek to have my book published in March 2012, get married (yes, you read that right!!!), and believe it or not shorten my messages (hopefully this will be the last long blog of Michael Miano :).

With that, I will end. Let's let 2012 truly be an end of the world as we know it. Let's go hard for the gospel of Jesus Christ, preach by any means necessary..This is how we will act as the Church in unison, our missionality- go! Speak the Truth in love.

2012- go hard for the gospel. any means necessary, missionally bring unity to the body- speak the truth in love

"Living in a world come of age, as dead men not cowards"
Blessings in Christ,
Michael Miano

Missional Marketing- "Healing of the nation"

2012-01-07T13:22:00.000-08:00

Everyday I love the Lord more and more as I continue to learn the true and reasonable gospel of Jesus Christ that shines through consistent fulfilled theology. Yet, the burden always stands that we need more missionaries, more door to door evangelists, more teachers and preachers to teach the proper view of the kingdom of God, of which I believe is the healing of the nations (Revelation 22:).

In line with what I just spoke about in the video, I am looking to do my part. Called as a reformer of the Church, a healer of the nations through the gospel of Jesus, I will do all I can to display the message and help others understand it clear enough that it takes root in their lives (oddly, the word radical is derived in Latin from "being rooted").

Learning from the network marketing sector, and being fully convinced of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I seek to do all that I can to get the message out. WE NEED MISSIONARIES!

So, Missionary Marketing is my brand/business to utilize my passionate energy ("zeal empowered by knowledge") to get the gospel out! Working namely within the Preterist camp, I want to begin networking properly.

You help me by spreading the word of what I am doing, helping me get invites and events, etc..I will help your cause by promoting you by any means necessary! What do you think?

Message me on Facebook, email me at p.mike_miano@yahoo.com, or give me a call at (239) 603-5695.

I look forward to working with you.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor Michael Miano

VISIT MY SPEAKING PAGE @

HTTP://WWW.ZEALEMPOWEREDBYKNOWLEDGE.COM
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The Perfect Christmas Story: The need for a Consistent Gospel

2011-12-29T08:37:00.000-08:00

December 25th, is known by many as the day that Christians celebrate the birth of the Messiah Jesus. Granted there are many who claim Jesus is the Christ yet do not attribute any value to December 25th and cite a variety of reasons.

We see nighborhood lawns decorated with the nativity scene, a moment to reflect on a time long long ago when a baby was born in a manger in a little town called Bethlehem. Yet, we also see the roadways packed with traffic, the shopping malls cluttered with frantic shoppers, and consumerism having a sort of parade that competes with the values that were later taught by this baby Messiah.

It seems that this celebration is a bit inconsistent. Although it does not stop there. The sad reality is that the distorted celebration of the Messsiah's birth is bred by a distorted storyline. Logically, it only makes sense that if the story itself is completely confusion and inconsistent the product or action it will produce will be the same.

So...what's the Christmas story you know or have heard? As Christians, this story, which is the gospel that our Messiah was born into this world to bring to men (John chaper 1), should be of vital importance. We must understand it, live it, and reproduce it, after all, Christian does mean "little Christ's", right?

In my following of Christ, I have done everything I could to present this message to the world, whether it was simply living a life that glorifies Christ or radically proclaiming the message from the rooftops (sometimes quite literally), I have been willing to entertain other understandings of this message- in an effort to understand the consistency of the gospel message- or for this message- the perfect Christmas story.

Recently I had made a habit of attending a local Unitarian Universalist congregation which is a group that seeks to exhibit a message of understanding that faith is subjective and it is through willing to allow others to grow that "god" is realized, or quite possibly in their belief, the lack thereof. One day their minister delivered a message in regards to what it is a Unitarian Universalist believes, and he quoted an article written by Reverand David Bumbaugh, a professor at Meadville Lombard Theological School in which he said:

"Unitarian Univeralists have, I believe, an implicit faith position that has evolved over time as a result of our engagement with the world, a faith position that we seem reluctant to make explicit. It is a faith position that seeks to provide a sense of meaning to our existence; a position that challenges us to live responsibly in the world and to engage the challenges constantly confronting us"

I continually attended these meetings, and I will admit I always had a sense of "holy frustration". I have continually quoted to others in Christ that I feel the UU position is one that keeps peoplein a room running in circles denying the fact that their are walls. Many of these congregants are very intelligent and have been dismayed with the unreasonable, inconsistent, and often times unreliable message that the "Christian Church" has offered. I had a meeting with their minister and he told me how he was led away from his position as a Christian pastor by means of studying and realizing certain parts of the message didn't sit well with reality. This saddened me. Although, it is sadly true that many Christians and churches fail to offer a consistent and reasonable message that demonstrates our explicit position in Christ. Do you know your foundation, can can you explain it?

Again and again, I realize that much of the distortion of the Christian message comes from presuppositions built upon presuppositions. A presupposition is an assumption that comes beforehand or to something that is taken for granted in advance. In Christian communities this is challenged as inserting something into the text or your own interpretation. This is clearly demonstrated when I meet with the Mormons who offer a new gospel in an effort to restore the message of Jesus Christ. The sad truth again is that, YES, the gospel does need to be restored but without faulty presuppositions that are ever clear in their tradition, traced back to why Joseph Smith even prayed to God for wisdom. Many friends in different streams of Christianity offer faulty presuppositions when they take something I say and add to it (for example, if we are living in the new heavens and new earth therefore there is no longer any need for the gospel). Also, many challenge true Biblical teachings based on what they have always felt they already knew or what seems logical and the only right way, to them! Faulty presuppositions come up in any Bible study, especially when dealing with morals and ethics, yet these same false views have led to dispensationalism, the history & theology of the Jehovah Witnesses, and many other brands in the Christian church.

As Charles Spurgeon put it, ""I believe a very large majority of church goers … are merely the stolid, unthinking, slumbering worshippers of an unknown God". Unfortunately, many of the scholars are sitting in circles amongst each other and giving truth to yet another quote by Mr. Spurgeon, "A lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on". A great read concerning this is A Road Back to Preterissm by Kurt Simmons. (This article can be found at Preterist Central.com).

To be quite honest. I am sick of hearing about shoppers killing another shopper over a toy around the celebration of the Messiah, I am antagonized by killings in my area, at the mall, around the Christmas season, and I am bothered by the nonsense story that has taken place of the true gospel story. So what do I resolve to do? Attack back! As much as the ways of this "world" seek to attack the kingdom of God which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, we in the kingdom of God must wage war as well. How ready is your armor?

I truly believe we can fix the problem by missionally living out what I have come to call an emerging profitable Christianity which is demonstrated with a consistent message. Make sense? That is exactly it! We must let the good news become good news, not an odd quirky story of spiritual nonsense that "works for you". Are you willing to not only explain the perfect Christmas story that began when that baby was born in Bethlehem, but also live in its reality today?

Take a look at Luke chapter 2. A man named Simeon was waiting for what? The consolation of Israel! And he would be alive until when? Until he seen the Lord's Christ! And what did he prophesy about the child?

"Soveriegn Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for the revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory of your people Israel...this child is destined to cause the rising and falling of many in Israel, and to be a sign spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too".

and of course it doesn't stop there. Concerning the prophetess Anna the Scripture says "she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all where looking toward to the redemption of Jerusalem". Immediately we read of Jesus growing up and going about the Father's business proclaiming the fullfillment of prophecy and proclaiming the nearness of the kingdom of God.

I must question. Is this the gospel message that you are being taught? I always hear a subjective, out of context, personal salvation- might I dare say boyfriend jesus message in many churches rather than the fulfillment of prophecy to Israel, salvation of Israel, which would be a light to the Gentiles. That is what is in Scripture.

In a decaying world outside the gates of the kingdom of God, many Christians offer dirty water as the message of Christ:

in once sentence it is said, death is destroyed by Christ and now we have eternal life, yet we say we cannot be living in the realities of the kingdom because people still die. Many say we are in the presence of God, yet when we die we will go into His presence. Some speak of hell as being an eternal place, yet the Word says Hades will be thrown into the lake of fire. Many preach that we are the kingdom of God, and then speak of a yet future kingdom of God. The Scriptures say that sin is what leads us to Jesus, and that the Gospel is eternal, yet many preach a false hope of a kingdom without sin, and therefore without the need for Jesus.

We must get with the program! We are not offering the healing of the nations that is so desperately needed, and can be found in a consistent gospel message- or in this case the perfect Christmas story.

The good news is that an emerging profitable Christianity is on the horizon. Sometimes we must emerge amidst the nonsense, and truly offer something profitable- this is the remnant always spoken of in the Bible.

GOOD NEWS:

A CHILD WAS BORN, A SON WAS GIVEN, AND HIS GOVERNMENT IS ON HIS SHOULDERS, HE IS CALLED WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER, PRINCE OF PEACE. THE INCREASE OF HIS GOVERNMENT AND PEACE WILL HAVE NO END FROM THE TIME HE WAS BORN TO FOREVER (ISAIAH 9:6-7). HE HAS SET UP A KINGDOM THAT HAS AND WILL CONTINUE TO CRUSH ALL OTHER KINGDOMS, BUT HIS KINGDOM WILL ENDURE FOREVER (DANIEL 2:44). THIS IS A KINGDOM OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, PEACE, AND JOY IN THE HOLY SPIRIT (ROMANS 14:18). YOU CAN BE SAVED FROM THIS PERVERSE GENERATION BY FINDING SALVATION IN HIM (), THANK GOD HE FULFILLED THE PROPHECIES (LUKE 21:20-22, HEBREWS 9:28; 1 CORINTHIANS 10:11) TO BRING SALVATION. IN THIS WORLD WHICH WILL NEVER END (EPHESIANS 4:21) AS GENERATIONS COME AND GO (ECCLESIASTES 1:4) WE HAVE THE ETERNAL GOSPEL (REVELATION 14:6) WHICH WILL CONTINUE TO BE THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS (REVELATION 22:2) AS WE INVITE PEOPLE TO COME INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD (REVELATION 22:14-17) BY BEING REBORN (JOHN CHAPTER 3).

I hope this bears fruit in your life, blessings in Christ,
Pastor Michael Miano

Give us men in the pulpit...that fear God & think the gospel good enough for anybody & make no apology for preaching it-A.T. Robertson

P.S.- Here is a brother in Christ's blog that discusses the same stuff but probably a bit more clearer than my crazy mind works. :)

http://ultimatereality-revdannyfoster.blogspot.com/?spref=fb

My NY TIMES Response: The Baby's Bathwater

2011-10-25T15:27:00.000-07:00

In response to an article I read in The NY Times, which can be found here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/opinion/the-evangelical-rejection-of-reason.html
This was my response which I emailed to them and just might possibly be in the papers soon:

The Baby’s Bathwater

Last week I sat down with a friend who happens to be a Unitarian Universalist pastor. I shared with him my views of theology, eschatology, and how I am encouraged by the postmodern worldview that is taking place as well as my discouragement concerning the prevalent anti-intellectual attitude alive in the Church. Here it was a 27 year old radically engaged Christian pastor and an above 50 years of age reverend of a Unitarian Universalist Congregation, sharing salad and stories, hopeful of what the information age will bring to pass.

Since I shared my views of how my “thinking” and studying the Scriptures led me to be dismissed and ostracized by the “big church” in our location, I was delighted and inspired when he text messaged me concerning the NY Times article titled “The Evangelical Rejection of Reason”, that was in the opinions section on October 17, 2011.

After reading and re-reading the article a couple times, as well as getting feedback from many Facebook friends, I am responding to this article that brought me a breath of fresh air. Time and time again, especially in political and religious atmospheres, we hear the statement: “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater”, yet it is about time that we recognize what exactly is the baby and what is the bathwater. Why? Because the bathwater is full of bacteria and its dirt is getting all over the baby and even to the extent of getting the filth all over those seeking to take the baby out of the bacteria-infested water. At this point one might realize I am speaking of the man-made doctrines in the Church that are accepted as Biblical, yet fail to stand against scrutiny and ultimately “spit in the face of Jesus”.

I seek not to be prideful, arrogant, or to throw stones at anyone- yet as the NY Times article rightly said: “But when the faith of so many Americans becomes an occasion to embrace discredited, ridiculous and even dangerous ideas, we must not be afraid to speak out, even if it means criticizing fellow Christians”. This is exactly the point! As I read this NY Times article I didn’t spend time dwelling on the “side issues” that were brought up to make clear the point of- the evangelical rejection of reason- rather I saw complete agreement, considering it is my reason and being “too intellectual” which has gotten me rejected by many.

As a missionally engaged Christian on the frontlines of radically spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, I can say I am grateful for the postmodern atmosphere of critiquing and questioning. As Mark A. Noll wrote in his book, “The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind”, “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind”, and that is clearly demonstrated as the authors of the NY Times article explained through the fundamentalist slogan- “The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it”. Oh, how us students of the Bible wish it was that easy, considering the vast disagreements in all areas of theology so alive in the Church. It is discernment, disagreement, and intellectual honesty that have led to the expanding reach of the Christian gospel, in Spirit and Truth.

The popular evangelical Christian doctrines set up various views that force its proponents to look at reason, study, and any form of knowledge outside there confines as arrogant, misled, and heretical. Many man-made doctrines that have been passed off as “Biblical” lead to excessive conspiracy theories in all fields concerning science, history, and the like. Authors Timothy P. Martin & Jeffrey L. Vaughn, explain, detail, and document this in their book, “Beyond Creation Science: New Covenant Creation From Genesis to Revelation” making bold statements such as “The real reason the influence of secular unbelief is so great in our day lies in the widespread failure of Christians to understand the Bible in its own context and to present a real Christianity to the world…Christians have lost influence in Western society precisely because Christians have not thought deeply or acted wisely in response to the cultural challenges modernity presents to the Christian faith”. Also, speaking of a growing group of conservative evangelicals the authors wrote, “They also wonder what it will take to bring about the demise of dispensational premillenialism in America which has retreated from reasoned biblical defense of the view”.

Yet, true to form I will always present the case of the good news. I was encouraged by the above mentioned NY Times article because I see something on the horizon (I myself am an example). The Age of Enlightenment came with a lot of criticism toward the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Emergent generation- X rebelled against the fundamentalist Christianity offered by their parents, and today the postmodern generation provides challenges yet inquiring Christian minds are seeking to provide answers, dare I say a resurrection of the gospel. This is something I like to call emerging profitable Christianity, which is pushing away the “simplistic theology, cultural isolationism, and stubborn anti-intellectualism” of pop-culture Christianity. Many, myself included, are seeking to be an example of a true Christian worldview that can take on whatever it is that the world seeks to offer, rationally and reasonably. We refuse to get caught up in the right and wrongs of gay marriage, the contrast of political parties, and seek to engage science and history with an open mind standing on our foundation in Christ- all in an effort to bring healing to the nations as ambassadors of the kingdom of God.

Admittedly, this is a long, hard, and sometimes lonely task. Yet we are continually encouraged through conversation with one another, an authentic way of living Christ-like, and the ever-reforming challenge to wash the dirty water off the Messiah-baby Jesus Christ through critical, loving, challenging and welcoming conversations.
It’s emerging…

Michael Miano is pastor of The Fellowship C.H.U.R.C.H. in Fort Myers, Florida. He is currently working on a seeking- to- be published autobiographical tale called Freaked-Out by the New Covenant: What Your Life Would, Could, or Should Be. Also, an avid You Tuber and blogger. Visit the church website at http://www.freakedoutfellowship.weebly.com

Missional: Attacking the Static- Part 5 (A Theology that WORKS)

2011-10-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

Good day my friends. Please don't mind if I vent a bit. This blog is being written at no better a time because of how clear I am seeing the pharasaic attributes of the church which serve to stagnate the church and it's mission. If we look at the modern church and consider the time of Christ we see very similar diversion tactics being used by those who want to defend their view or institution. For example, consider time when Jesus began to explain that the Sabbath was made for the man not man for the Sabbath, the Pharisees looked for ways to accuse Him according to the Law rather than see the truth in the matter at hand (Mark 2:23-3:6). Another example is that as Jesus is teaching the Truth of the law and do miracles the religious people continually find reasons to question what He is doing for example in Matthew 15:1-20, they focus on the fact that Jesus' disciples do not wash their hands before they eat and therefore break the tradition of the elders. Legalism, what you should not be doing, was the greatest method of diversion to get people to ignore what Jesus was truly doing, and it even extends to the Apostles. Consider all the times that the Apostle Paul had to explain and reiterate the difference between law and grace and was constantly accused of making it ok for people to sin( Romans chapters 2-7; Galatians chapters 2-3; Ephesians chapter 2; might I add that you should just read the New Testament as a whole). Today, many in the Church are clearly allowing a man to determine where they will stand in regards to the truth and are not studying things for themselves, and that's depressing because one must consider how many Jews in the first centruy where led astray by this tactic- following their Rabbi. In Matthew chapter 23, Jesus Christ is issue the judgement text as to what is going to happen to the religious teachers of the Law in his time, might we read in context yet glean some wisdom from blindly following teachings that may just seem right:

" Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are (Matthew 23:13-15)".

This week I sat down with a Jehovah Witness and during our 3 hour discussion/ debate he continually emphasized that I remind him of Obama because of how well spoken I am. Obviously, this diversion tactic was used to say that it's my speaking that is convincing, not my theology. At this point I am all to familiar with diversion tactics and strawmen that are used to confuse and diffuse truth (Check out my video series on Pulling Apart the Strawman). Fact is, truth will prevail!! And since it has been said that I am similar to Obama, I will stay true to form and say- "There is hope"! :)

There is hope that the truth will prevail over the deceit, deception, falsehood and lies that are a plague to the church and its mission. There is hope that the true gospel spoken by Jesus Christ and the apostles will be ressurected as the Christians begin to use discernment and search the Scriptures. There is hope that the gospel message that emphasizes the mission of making disciples for Christ will be renewed and revitalized in contrast to the prevailing apathetic misinformed "churchianity" message that many are comfortable with.

I titled this blog- A Theology That Works- for a dual purpose. If one is to consider the works versus grace contraversy that has continued in Christianity and is clear in the book of James, we come to the Biblical conclusion that

"In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead (James 2:17)".

Therefore, we conclude that our lives must be marked by action. But what produces the action? Our Faith! Theology is our understanding of God, so we recognize that the natural outpouring and fruit of our faith should be action. Do you feel that tug of action? What exactly is your understanding of God (theology) urging you to do?

The purpose of this blog series- Missional: Attacking the Static- was to get us to take an honest inventory of the Church, our participation as members of the Body, and now I am clearly up some of the issues so prevalent (all of which have been expounded upon in books, through quotes, and personal discernment):

apathy, passivity, Pharasaic separatism, comfortability, and inconsistent discipleship.

What I pose through this blog is an emerging profitable Christianity that starts with our theology which will produce action, as I like to term is "zeal empowered by knowledge".

As I said before, there is hope, and that hope is through a through us, the body of Christ, the Christians doing what we are commanded by studying the Scriptures, using discernment and searching the Scriptures, and allowing a natural outpouring through our lives of the things we begin to know and how we look at the world (a true Christian worldview). Their are some amazing things that are emerging thanks to the current times and the good ole information age. The challenge is on the table though, it is not an easy task for an apathetic passive comfortable Church to begin to be consistent in our dealings with the world, to offer a true good news that is rational and reasonable, and to truly engage.

Come, let's reason together....Can you consistently discuss and if need be defend/debate your faith? Are you presenting a message of good news to the world that is actually accepted as good news?

Read Ephesians chapter 2-3 (notice "you will be able to understand", "make plain to everyone the administation of this mystery). Does your gospel presentation sound like that?

These are contentions I have had for a while living as a fully engaged Christian who looks at the world as a mission field. Through my studies of the gospel we present to the world I have continually realized that we fail to speak about the kingdom of God. My continual contentions were that we are not seeing the miracles, signs, and wonders that Jesus and the Apostles did (or the 3000 people coming to the faith) because we were not being true to form. Jesus came on the scene of ministry and declared:

"Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God has drawn near; repent, and believe the good news. (Mark 1:14-15)"

"From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has drawn near (Matthew 4:17)".

AND THE APOSTLES:

"They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even large numbers to the place where he was staying. From morning till evening he explained and declared to them the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets (Acts 28:23)".

"For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 28:30-31)".

My continual focus of seeking to understand and declare this message to the world has led me even further in realizing the failure of being consistent to the message. If you look to the end of Revelation, it is then that the kingdom of God is given to men- what kingdom is this? Is it a physical kingdom that will one day be on earth? Is it a restored world? If you read Revelations chapters 21-22, along with the Old Testament prophecies of the hope of this kingdom you realize the popular view is hardly consistent with the text. What did Jesus say to Nicodemus about the kingdom?

"I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again (John 3:3)"

Unfortunately, as you study church history you will see the confusion and debate concerning the realized kingdom of God, the mix of Gnostic teachings, and much to our detriment today- new teachings upon new teachings to explain misunderstands by what Christ meant. If you study doctrines you will see that due to much of the confusion the popular gospel message today has many gnostic tendencies:

"Gnosticsism is a radically dualistic view of reality where physical reality is completely separate from spiritual reality...They claimed "salvation" involves escaping from the physical world, which is the source of corruption, into the spiritual realm, which is pure and eternal...deny the goodness of God's physical creation and teach that God must replace it with a new universe in the future...one of the many things that the Christian docrtine of the incarnation shows us is the perfection of Jesus Christ is possible in God's physical world. Many other holy and righteous men in Biblical history also demonstrate to us that man's problem has nothing to do with the created order; the problem is sin which resides in the human heart. The curse related to sin is not inherent in the elements of the physical world; the curse has to do with human beings and their covenant relationship to God. That is why believers can be saved, right here and now, in this world. The problem mankind has is sin, and God can take care of that for those who believe. He doesn't have to throw away the physical universe in order to do that (Paraphrased from the book: Beyond Creation Science)".

Biblical truth sounds a bit different than the spiritual hogwash being spouted at many sunday services today, doesnt it? You know... the whole recieve Jesus in your heart today that way you have the hope to be wisked away with him into heaven when you die, but you will have to follow some rules and live a good life separate from the bad people and come here to sing alot of songs, etc, etc.. And that's the good news we present to the world? Sounds a bit like Gnosticism.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking"- Steve Jobs

I love that quote above. Sadly, many in the Christian Church today are living by dogma, doctrines, and a spinkle of Scriptural truth. The aspect of thinking out-side-the box or really thinking through things with discernment (intellectualism) is considered a fault in the eyes of many- because many equate faith with a lack of rational thought. As I have posed through this blog, looking at the socio-religious climate- THIS IS A MAIN TENENT OF THE PROBLEM WE HAVE IN BEING A STATIC INSTITUTION!!

"Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritains worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is Spirit, and His worshippers must worship in Spirit and in truth (John 4:21-24)"

Jesus was speaking to a woman outside the covenant of Israel. He was telling her of a time when truth would be revealed to all those who seek to know God through Christ, the Messiah. Notice that it would be spirit and truth that the Father wants those to worship Him through, we must not ever compromise these aspects! That my friends is the solution.

Becoming missional in our efforts to attack the static of the institutional church through faith and works is the solution and the greater things that we would do through Christ (John 14:12)- living in love, fulfilling the Law (Romans 13:10; Galatians 5:14; etc..).

Unfortunately, the separatist/ retreat from the world aspect that makes Christians feel good about them being the "righteous" is the hypocritical doctrine that blocks us from living in love and living missionally. Besides..it's easier to just separate and know our differences. That's exactly NOT how it is done, the incarnation of Jesus Christ is a prime example.

There is a difference between true Christianity that is reforming and emerging in small unions in radical Christ-ways from organized churchianity. We have seen the need to reform and critique many times and for many reasons in Christian history, and I would imagine the list I can compile is a very minimal list compared to the needs that must change as we emerge and engage the world as the true Christ-followers that we are.

"Where the church is faithful to its Lord, there the powers of the Kingdom are present and people begin to ask questions to which the Gospel is the answer"

Some of us from The Fellowship C.H.U.R.C.H. have taken up the opportunity to gather and learn with the local Unitarian Univeralists on Sunday mornings. Originally. we started out just going and listening and seeking to demonstrate the gospel in word and deed. The more time we spend there and befriend more and more people, we are realizing the commonalities we all share, the value of friendship ("love beyond belief"), and the process of enjoying the journey of learning, loving, and living. Recently, the minister has been sharing with us about the convictions of the UU congregation and summation of his "What Do We Believe" sermon was:

"The most important point of faith which I have not yet mentioned is, faith is for a purpose. It's to motivate you to care for yourself, so that you may help others, and to exhibit concern for the world of we're apart of"

As Christians, we are not just simply universalists with a concept of “love beyond belief” nor do we hold an atheistic do-good view rather we have a proclamation of truth changes all things. Read Hebrews chapter 11 to learn of what part faith has had in the lives of the heroes of our faith. Yet we fail.

It is time, especially in a religious, social, politcal, and economical culture we face today to be offering a consistent, clear, and not so absurd good news to the world. This will enable our efforts to smash false paradigms and views that are set up contrary to the true gospel and the reality of it. We have the unction to demolish strongholds and therefore make all thought captive to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). We have the call to be rational, reasonable, and offer the answers to the world around us through the gospel of Christ (1 Peter 3:15)- this is truly the healing of the nations (Revelation 22:3).

The depressing news is that many are misinformed because of the serious lack of studying the Scriptures, knowing church and secular history, and instead of defending the faith and searching the Scriptures many have trusted in doctrines of men and sough the the easy way out. Popular teachings stand in stark contrast to the concept of iron sharpens iron, and especially the challenge of Proverbs 18:17: "The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him". Instead of searching out the matter, and diligently searching the Scrictures the popular teaching, even said by pastors is the inconsistent aspect of sitting under a man or school to learn truth (oddly enough, in time this is and can be disputed as reguritating the doctrines of a man, or as you learn more as desire to search things out you may recieve the rebuke of taking information from too many sources -sorry bit of a side not there :))

Sadly, as you may have noticed at the beginning of this blog the issue of defending and teaching the truth gets personal for me. As a committed missional Christian, committed to study of the Word and searching the Scriptures- I am at odds with popular doctrine. Emerging missional theology is not a stated way of doing things it simply means to emerge (defined as moving out of the way or away from something and come into view) and become missional as you learn more and more about God. I pray that this blog series has been edifying to you and that through the Spirit of God you will continue to diligently study the Scriptures and share the gospel through your learnings!

"The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!". And let him who hears say, "Come!". Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life (Revelation 22:17).
and I guess this is where I extend my invite of "Come!", lets hang and let me buy you a coffee.

A brother, friend, servant of the Lord,
Pastor Michael Miano

*And yes I really am inviting you to fellowship with me over a cup of coffee, tea, or maybe a frappachino, ha ha ha...give me a call or text 239-603-5695

Missional: Attacking the Static Part 4 - Why the Church & What is My Role?

2011-10-07T13:49:00.000-07:00

"Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit. For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles- Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Jesus Christ. I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given to me through the working of His power. Although I am less than least of all God's people, this grace was given to me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord". (Ephesians 2:19-3:11)

The above text from Ephesians clearly shows the missional aspect of spreading the good news, which Paul was called to spread to the Gentiles, and therefore the church would be established to make known to "manifold wisdom of God". Through that passage many things are made clear:

-The church is not a building, but rather the people being built and raised together

-The mystery of the gospel was the Gentiles becoming heirs with Israel concerning
the promises of God

- The calling of the church is to make known the wisdom of God, which is explainable and full of richness

- All of the wisdom and calling of the church comes through the eternal purpose of God through Jesus Christ

As missional people, set on fire with the gospel and love for others in our heart we become the church. As I read recently, it is not that the church has a mission, rather the mission has a church that makes all things possible (as illustrated through Ephesians 3).

We read about the church having it’s beginnings in the book of Acts, after the crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ. The Apostles are the sent ones to make the Church come to fruition by spreading the gospel to both Israel and the Gentiles. The Apostles go out and truly make it clear that the gospel is what many are searching for as they see thousands of people come to the saving knowledge and grace of Jesus Christ.

"Where the church is faithful to its Lord, there the powers of the Kingdom are present and people begin to ask questions to which the Gospel is the answer" -Lesslie Newbigin

St. Francis of Assisi once made the following statement:

"Preach the gospel, when necessary, use words"

I will admit up front, I see the importance of the proclaimed gospel (Romans 10), yet Francis' words ring a bell. Are we living the gospel? As the quote above by Lesslie Newbigin makes clear if we are living faithfully to our calling people will begin to ask the questions that allow for us to clearly explain the gospel in their context. How serious to do show your life to be about making disciples of Jesus Christ?

There is no doubt when we read about the early church and get a glimpse of what the church looked like in the first century we get a clear understanding of the body of Christ at work. Similarly we notice the same thing happening in the underground church in China. It is said that before the wide spread persecutions of Diocletian and other Roman leaders happened in the early Church there were about 25,000 Christians, but as the persecutions became widespread there was in increase in discipleship and by 310 A.D. there was about 20,000,000 Christians. Similarly in the persecuted underground Church in China before the persecutions of Mao Tse Tung and the Communist Party there were about 2 million Christians, yet after Mao's reign it was recorded that the discipleship during the persecutions between 1949 to 1979 rose to 60 million.

Imagine what that might look like in your location? What are we missing? Might I say..persecution. We are living as the missional people of the underground church who are extremely missional to the point that they won't even buy housing because they know they will soon be persecuted and probably lose their home because they see the importance of spreading the gospel and making disciples for Jesus Christ.

Today, in America we must turn and ask- is this what Jesus meant for his movement? It seems we are a far ways away from the discipleship/ missional attitude of the early church and even our persecuted brethren in other countries today. We face a crisis of regurgitated Christians going up for alter calls every Sunday, a lack of knowledge and substance concerning the glorious good news of Jesus Christ (half the time I don't even understand what is good about the "American- Christian" gospel), and we have lost sight of the freedom loving truth that made the New Covenant. It is so much easier for us to cuddle in our church buildings sing songs, learn some verses in the Bible, and feel religious because we don't do "the bad things the world does". A great study done by Gabe Lyons and some of his associates has proven that American Christianity has become the antithesis of what Christianity was in the first century, and ultimate what Jesus Christ wanted for His body.
So...what do we do?

Well as the body of Christ who is making known the wisdom of God we must first examine ourselves and see if we are truly of the faith. Look into the mirror of Scripture and the law of liberty given to us by the grace of God. As Alan Hirsch makes clear in many of his missional books (The Forgotten Ways, Untamed: Missional Discipleship, and ReJesus) we must vandalize our portraits of Jesus. As my lovely lady, Quanti, would say- "Where do you get your Jesus from"? We must re-introduce ourselves to the Jesus Christ of the Gospels and get rid of our faulty views.

We must see to truly become what the biblical church was. This will require breaking down our current constructs, looking at our social atmosphere, and truly being missional.

"A church which pitches its tent without constantly looking our for new horizons, which does not continually strike camp, is being untrue to its calling...We must play down our longing for certainty, accept what is risky, and live improvisation and experiment"-Hans Kung, The Church as the People of God
As the individuals who make up the body, called the Church we can begin with ourselves (oh..you thought this was going to be easy?).

"A great deal more failure is the result of an excess of caution than of bold experiment with new ideas. The frontiers of the kingdom of God were never advanced by men and women of caution"- J. Oswald Sanders

Let us begin to be courageous, bold, and zealous members of the body of Christ. A friend of mine has the church motto of:

"We exist to glorify God by pursuing and sharing our joy through the knowledge of Him".

I have always loved that statement because that is exactly it. If we understand why we exist everything we do will fall in line with that exact purpose. Are you pursuing and sharing? If we took that attitude about everything we did, just imagine what could happen? We need that primal energy!!

"The church is called to be a dynamic movement rather than a static institution...its leadership is drawn from those one the front line of the expansion of the church" –Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways

If we take the above to quotes serious that would mean alot of Christians would be not counted among the membership and many of those calling themselves leaders would have a serious demotion. Our apathetic attitude coupled with passivity in matters of church leadership, evangelism, discipleship, and studying the Word of God has put us at odds with true Biblical Christianity. Consider Paul when he wrote to the Romans:

"I am obligated to both the Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and to the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile (Romans 1:14-16)".

We must see the apostle Paul as the standard of what it means to be a Christian, one who is obligated, eager, and unashamed of spreading the gospel. In this..there can be no if, and, or buts.

"If passion is eliminated, faith no longer exists"- Soren Kierkegaard

The standard of faith is passion, it brings us to the James controversy- faith versus works. Simply put, your works (your passion) will be the outpouring of your works. At The Fellowship C.H.U.R.C.H. (the church I pastor) we pride ourselves on doing everything with passion, to the point that our membership papers say:
If you don't have passion, don't bother.

With the premise that our works, our passion, our outpouring will be the natural result of our faith, what can be said of the person with no passion? Makes clear the quote above by Sorek Kierkegaard, doesn't it? Well then...let that be the challenge- a challenge of having passion for God and the Gospel because it is impossible to please God without God ( Hebrews 11:6).

The church needs or rather boldly we can say is composed of believers who are living missionally in spreading the gospel. It is a two way street, without the passionate missional disciples there is no Church, and without the Church there is no missional discipleship. That my friends is the purpose of the church- we are the unit by which God makes manifest His will on Earth. We must stay plugged in, accountable to, and working toward Spiritual disciplines in the Church.

Our purpose? "Go , and....(Matthew 28:19-20)

Missional: Attacking the Static- Part 3

2011-09-07T07:47:00.001-07:00

Part 3- Missional Discipleship

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires (2 Peter 1:2-4)”.

Discipleship is vital in every aspect of the mission. There are various "goodwill" organizations and ministries which are characterized by doing good works and not so much as being or becoming disciples of Jesus Christ. Good works are demonstrated through a Christian’s life but not everyone who does good works is on mission for Jesus Christ or as the above verse illustrates; participating in the divine nature. In this blog I would like to explain proper discipleship because it is the disciples who are the arms and legs of the body of Christ and living out the incarnation (which we explained in part 2) and through that exact mission- disciples are born.

"The Church is nothing but a section of humanity in which Christ has really taken form"- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Understanding the Biblical story we know that the history of mankind is explained through the fall of Adam- man had chosen his own will over the will of God and has suffered in his fallen nature ever since. Christianity is the offer to restore what was lost in Adam (the image of God, the presence of God, the access to the tree of life, etc.) which is done by dying to ourselves and becoming alive in Christ (Ephesians chapter 2; Galatians 2:20). As was said in the book, Untamed by Alan Hirsch :

"At the very beginning of following Jesus, we are all called to be un-dragoned by repenting, dying to our fallen selves, and surrendering our identities and purposes to the Lordship of Jesus..".

Soren Kierkegaard coined the term contemporaneousness which meant that within the mind and life of a Christian, Jesus Christ must be a "living reality, seen through the eyes of faith, and contemporaneous with each generation. His reality must be such that it transcends both time and space". As it was further spoken that this is done through a conscious and responsible effort to reach beyond church tradition, inherited presuppositions, and encounter Jesus for who he was to the eyewitnesses...and "in that painful tension of the dilemma; make his own choice as to whether Jesus is the God-man who has absolute claim to his life or a madman who should be avoided at all costs".

The prevailing problem today is that most who call themselves are not acting a disciples of Christ, dare I even say they act as half-hearted converts. Most of this is done through a seemingly dumbing-down process which creates a zeal without knowledge. Consider how many so-called Christians cannot clearly explain the gospel (as is the narrative of the Scriptures, not the emotional. How is this so? This zeal without knowledge is what has taking a stronghold over popular Christianity and therefore disables true disciples of Christ engaged in a reality of Him which would be true missional living. As it has been clearly stated "...ignorance of Jesus by those who claim His name is toxic to both the believer as well as those around him or her".

"If you conception of God is radically false, then the more devout you are, the worse it will be for you. You are opening your soul to be molded by something else. You had better be an atheist"- William Temple

As I have grown in the knowledge of God, which has been quite the journey, I have struggled with what exactly being a disciple of Christ means today in modern society. Should we sell everything and follow Him as the disciples did, should we seek to be persecuted, WHAT SHOULD WE DO? Studying history of Christianity, along with experimenting with monasticism, homelessness, and various other concepts I have realized the truth of the following statement:

“To be a follower of Christ does not mean to imitate literally but to express him through the medium of one's own life. A Christian is no unnatural reproduction of Christ...The task of the Christian consists of transposing Christ into the stuff of his own daily life"- Romano Guardini

Unfortunately, today the prevailing thought of living a Christian life seems like a holiness exercise. Think about it, every Bible study, every discussion, somehow, someone brings up sin. I thought sin was defeated? (Romans chapters 3, 5 & 6; Hebrews 2; John 1:12; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:1-2; Revelation 1:5-6). Ever since (and before) I became a Christian I have had discussions, debates, and confrontations with those in Christ and those outside Christ regarding sin- it seems everyone is just “stuck on stupid” when it comes to grace and the righteousness of Christ. It took a while for me to figure this out, but through study, observation, and constant prayers with God I realized- the Christian communities emphasis on sin is actually a cop-out of our larger responsibility to be set on fire to live and do the will of God. It has always been easier to doubt, fear, hate, and ostracize people and other aspects of life rather than to believe, have faith, and show love.

Recently, I went to an event called Man up. The conference called men to begin living Biblically by becoming more like Jesus Christ. I started to think about a conversation my girlfriend Quanti and I had with a fellow Christian concerning his preoccupation with sin. Quanti strictly told him “it’s about doing the things He did, not doing the things He didn’t do”. Our religious spirit clings to the concept of sin and makes us look at others in a way of judgment and keeps us personally from doing what we should because all we can think about is how we keep doing the things we should. Sadly, we treat the sacrifice of Christ with contempt and make it of no effect in the matters of sin.

As I illustrated above, seemingly living “holy” lives centered on not sinning and not doing what the “bad people” do makes it easier for us to pass off our apathy and lack of passion. As Soren Kierkegaard once said:

"...there is a demand by "the crowd", the mass of people, to live an ordinary unexamined and passionate life in which God is essentially irrelevant, and yet they want this life to be regarded as Christian"

The fact of the matter is that Christians should not be concerned with the do not's but rather the do's, face it you are a sinner and your righteousness will never account for worthiness in the eyes of God (Isaiah 64:6; 1 John 1:8; Romans 3:23; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 1:30). Mark Batterson said it best, "It seems to me that the modern church has become fixated on sins of commission. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. And you’re alright. But the problem with that is this: you can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right! Think of it as holiness by subtraction. So holiness becomes the byproduct of subtracting something from our lives that shouldn’t be there instead of maximizing our God-given potential. Don’t get me wrong. Holiness certainly involves subtraction. But I think God is far more concerned about sins of omission—those things we could have and should have done. Maybe holiness has as much or more to do with seizing opportunities as it does resisting temptation? Those who simply run away from sin are half-Christians. Our calling is much higher than simply running away from what’s wrong"And again he illustrated the point in his book, Primal:

"Too often we try to stop sinning by not sinning. But that is a losing battle. It's what psychologists call a double bind...of course; you can try to stop sinning by not sinning. And when that doesn't work, you can try even harder to stop sinning by not sinning. But what you need is a vision from God that captures your imagination and consumes your energy. Vision is the cure for sin". –Mark Batterson

Let’s get scriptural. Check out Mark chapter 5 verses 15 through 33.
The first story we come across is Jesus casting demons out of a man and He sends them into the pigs, after this the man wanted to go with Jesus but what did Jesus say? “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you” (Mark 5:15-20). Then Jesus once again goes on mission across the lake and is asked to heal a man asked Jesus to heal his child. As this is happening, a woman hoping to be healed touches Jesus’ clothing and Jesus realizes. Jesus turns to the woman and tells her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering” (Mark 5:21-33). How dare we go about making Jesus Christ into some holiness preacher so worried about our sins. As it was once said about Jesus Christ, that he had:

"...radical, redemptive holiness that went way beyond mere morality".

The holiness of Christ led to personal liberation and societal transformation. Jesus Christ heals these people and tells them to go. Legalism (which was the issue of the Pharisee, those who killed Christ) holds us to a “touch not, taste not” mentality. Many times throughout the Gospels the religious people were confused and insulted by what Jesus Christ did in order to show grace and understanding for the lost. Remember what Christ said:

“It is not the healthy who needs a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners (Mark 2:17)

Jesus Christ came set those under the Law free which enabled them to be missional (Check out my blog titled: I am free to love).

The first step that the eternal seed must pass through was death (see, 1 Corinthians 15:36). It was not man's will which brought about this death; and by this I do not mean the death of the body, which is unimportant. It was God's will which brought about the death so that the fullness of His nature would be produced in the seed He planted. – Brother Paul Richard Jr. Curran

We must die to ourselves, our way of doing things, and even our righteousness so that the glory of God (Christ in and through us) may be revealed! It is when we do this that we are enabled to know God.
Death to self. Dying to everything about ourselves, our selfish ambition and goals, is the only way to truly worship God!

"Worship turns out to be the dangerous act of waking up to God and to the purposes of God in the world, and then living lives that actually show it"- Mark Labberton, Dangerous Act of Worship

WAKE UP! That is discipleship!

Jn 12:24 (NIV) "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."

So now what?
I have always been fascinated with the concept of “prophetic imagination”, which is how the prophets acted when they were called to tell the message to the people(). I have written blogs about this concept which basically is defined as being creative, risky, and bold in our efforts to display the message of Christ to the world. Truly a zeal empowered by knowledge of all that God has done.

As we grow in Christ everything in our lives becomes a part of the mission. The social set theory is the efforts to explain social atmospheres and the two main types are centered set versus bounded set. Dare I pose that popular Christianity has become a bounded set theory in which there are people inside and outside but no real way to cross boundaries. Does this sound like what Jesus did?

Instead, Christianity must focus on living through the center set theory which is the characterized by a clear vision and ideology at the center but no real boundaries to cross in order to join. The Greek Orthodox Church has a concept called theosis- which demonstrates the growth in the knowledge of God which draws you closer and closer to God. (2 Peter chapter 1).

As we come to Christ and grow in the knowledge of God we become alive. As we become alive it is only natural to seek to express and share the life that is in and through us (Galatians 2:20 type of stuff). The mission is not a program it is simple a natural response to the knowledge of God. Brothers and sisters, seek to know the will of God and therefore become a disciple of Christ. As you grow you will become a disciple who makes disciples!

"Of all the works of creation, it is passion which is very good, without which man cannot serve God, or truly live" Martin Buber

Missional: Attacking the Static - Part 2

2011-08-31T08:17:00.000-07:00

Part 2- RESTORING THE MISSION

"There exists in every church something that sooner of later works against the very purpose for which it came into existence. So we must strive very hard, by the grace of God to keep the church focused on the mission that Christ originally gave to it"- C.S. Lewis

The quote above demonstrates the need for what Alan Hirsch called Mdna. Mdna is the transmission of inherited traits that characterize the mission that should be inherent in every church body. Every follower of Christ infused with the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and a bit of "holy rebellion" should be ever-reforming the Church back toward the mission- spreading the gospel of the kingdom of God ( which we discussed in part 1 how important it is to have a gospel -a message of good news, that is consistent and empowers Believers). As disciples engaged to the mission by the will and grace of God, we will be making disciples! Be disciples who make disciples!

One of the most energizing books I have read about being mission is REJesus: A Radical Messiah for a Missional Church, in which it is clearly demonstrated that we must be taken captive by the true Jesus Christ and His mission, -not create a image of Him in our minds and thus make him captive to our particular agenda. Many Christians have and still do this without realizing because- yes! your mission and agenda may have good intentions and be a great cause, but it might just be your cause, not necessarily what Christ is seeking to do and initiate.

What we do know through Scripture about the mission of God is clearly shown through John 1:1-18. Read it! That is the incarnation- which is basic terms is the story of how God took on flesh and became a man in order to show us His nature (gave us an inspiring model) and to fulfill His purpose- redemption of mankind! God's ways are amazing and many times incomprehendable, yet He continually reveals things to us. So, we know that God sent His Son (which was God made manifest through the seed of a woman) to die in our place and thus fulfill the covenant of love- that whosoever should believe on His name should be saved, a child of God, and have eternal life (John 3:16). That was the beginning of what was to come! Now, if you read further along, namely chapters 17-20, you begin to realize that Jesus Christ is sending out messengers of this message- "Just as you sent me, I am sending them". Now the disciples had the same mission, to be incarnational, as Paul said he was all things to all men so that he may win a few (1 Corinthians 9:22-23). Upon fulfillment of the New Covenant, we know that there are those who are inside the gates of the kingdom of heaven (the spiritual understanding of the Lordship of Jesus Christ = abundant life) and those missing out, who sit outside- and it is our goal, those exercised by the Spiritual knowledge of God, to use the leaves of the tree of life (the gospel of the Kingdom) to heal the nations.

Learning from the disciples and specifically the Apostle Paul we acknowledge that "to act incarnationally therefore will mean that in our mission to those outside of the faith we will need to exercise a genuine identification and affinity with those we are attempting to reach". ...."There is a time for "in-your-face" approaches to mission, but there is also a time to simply become part of the very fabric of a community and to engage in the humanity of it all"

The point of the incarnation was that "when confronted with the reality of God in Jesus, God in human flesh, God is no longer beyond and unfathomable, but immediate and present. He has come close to us, and his claim on our lives becomes somewhat more unavoidable". Through incarnational ministry we demonstrate the same passionate love our God had for us by coming and relating to us, being tempted, suffering, and being killed by and for us- this is truly putting flesh on it! (or as Francis Chan might say "Crazy Love").

The point is that ministry and relating to people is not a church program that we should have to talk about. As I explained in part 1, it is necessary that we begin to have an understanding of God and His mission that enables all of this to be natural. Religious "christianity" has allowed for a separatist mentality where it's us and them ( the good "christian" people who have to preach to and shun the morally bad people)-THIS IS NOT CHRISTIANITY. Jesus Christ actually did the exact opposite and hung around the "bad people", and they wanted to be in His presence, and ultimately it was those who chose to become disciples rather than the religious people. Unfortunately, we have the opposite extreme becoming a prevailing attitude in Christianity today. Instead of engaging the world with the message of Christ, many have chosen to just blend in and "be cool" which is called backsliding, not ministry. In his book, The Next Christians, Gabe Lyons does a great deal in explaining these things. It's the restorers, those who are rooted in the truth (there is that zeal empowered by knowledge thing again) who live out the mission for Christ! It is the restorers whose ".. faith activity isn't restricted to "religious" activities, but carries over into every day life".

The incarnation of Jesus Christ did not occur in order to create a religion or a set of moral rules by which the "good people" who say they believe in Jesus should live by. That's nonsense! (and by saying that I mean it makes no darn sense)- the Pharisee's were doing quite fine with moral laws and touch not, taste not rules! The incarnation was about bringing the redemption back to mankind- the image of God (which means the idea and concept for which He had created mankind). Each and every disciple that learns the knowledge of God embraces and becomes the image of God and therefore becomes an ambassador of the kingdom. It is in the gates that we recognize what true life is and have joy in it! That's the mission! God literally got involved in the mission to make it that clear on how important it is to spread and live it out, hello!!! HE DID!!!

Ivan Illach, the Austrian philosopher and Catholic priest said the most radical way to change a society is to tell an alternative story ( I do well to mention my blog by this title in which I speak about the kingdom of God- how ironic it is exactly what Christ came preaching!). The gospel of Jesus Christ is exactly that- the alternative to everything this world hopes for, lives for, and thinks is possible. It is this gospel that we must:

"resdiscover...recalibrate...rethink...reimagine...redeploying...revitalize.." in order to be missional!

"Telling others about Jesus is important, but conversion isn't their only motive. Their mission is to infuse the world with beauty, grace, justice, and love. I call them restorers because they envision the world as it was meant to be and they work toward that vision. Restorers seek to mend earth's brokenness..sowing seeds of restoration...they don't seperate from the world or blend in: rather, they thoughtfully engage". -Gabe Lyons

ARE YOU A DISCIPLE OF CHRIST CALLED TO BE A RESTORER?

Missional: Attacking the Static (PART 1)

2011-08-20T16:47:00.000-07:00

Part 1 :::::: "A TRUE BACK-TO-THE-BIBLE MOVEMENT"

The title of this blog is the point of this blog- the body of Christ (the Church) is called to be missional which is the natural outward impulse of God's chosen- the Church (otherwise known as the body of Christ or simply Christians). The natural impulse of understanding of who God is, what God has done, and what He is doing enabled the Church as well as each and every Christian to attack the static. The static being the lack of energy, passion, and movement seen in the 1st century Church largely due to a failure of Biblical theology and a reality of Jesus Christ.

The good news as noted by Gabe Lyons in his book, The Next Christians, is that "there is a movement among Christians......asking these same questions and offering meaningful answers. They want to be a force for restoration in a broken world even as we proclaim the Christian gospel. They want the label Christian to mean something good, intelligent, authentic, true, and beautiful". Gabe Lyons, as well as many other authors and leaders (Mark Batterson, Alan Hirsch, among many others) see what is on the horizon for Christianity whether we call it a reformation, revival, or an emergence! Gabe Lyons even quoted the late Billy Graham, who noticed the same things- Graham is noted as saying "Back when we did these big crusades in football stadiums and arenas, the Holy Spirit was really moving- and people were coming to Christ as we preached the Word of God, but today, I sense something different is happening. I see evidence that the Holy Spirit is working in a new way. He's moving through people where they work and through one-on-one relationships to accomplish great things. They are demonstrating God's love to those around them, not just with words, but in deed".

If one is to look through history at all the movements that changed the face of Christianity it was always a "back-to-the-Bible-movement", because that's where the solution lies. And that is where the solution to the "missional crisis" is at today in the Church and in the theological application in the lives of Believers. The lack of knowledge always creates either an apathetic spirit or a false passion based on assumptions and presuppositions (in Scripture this is called "zeal without knowledge"). Therefore, the missional movement will be based upon a zeal empowered by knowledge that is revealed through the Word of God- a true back to the Bible movement.

The local church I pastor, The Fellowship C.H.U.R.C.H., offers practical conversational theology that allows the true zeal of missional living to become practical and realized in our lives. We pride ourselves on the fact that as we seek to understand God more and more (grow in the knowledge of God) that we are becoming the true expression of Christianity, and I always say that if Christianity was to become illegal in Fort Myers, they will come for The Fellowship C.H.U.R.C.H. first!

"If passion is eliminated, faith no longer exists"- Soren Kierkegaard
Gabe Lyons made another great point (actually quite a few I will quote throughout this blog) when he spoke about "the problem with half stories" and he called it a "truncated gospel". I would definitely imagine that Gabe Lyons and I have some disagreements on the full extend of the good news brought by Christ but he makes great strides speaking on how the popular notions of the gospel only dwell on the fall and redemption, but ignore the implications of creation and restoration, and ultimately consummation. The lack of a cohesive message destroys the good news, and for many the failure to be intellectually honest with the story has caused this missional crisis which in essence is a full failure in regards to the message of Jesus Christ.

The popular song "Jesus is coming, people get ready" illustrates this point well. As a Christian who takes Jesus Christ at every word He spoke to the disciples, I recognize the fulfillment of everything he said. Jesus was not talking some far off message- He was directly speaking to the people in front of Him, who understood what the good news was- the kingdom of God. (I will not expound on the full truth and understanding espoused through Full Preterist theology but I advise the reader- read my blogs and read more Scripture in context!). The fact of the matter is- we are now living in the reality of the kingdom of God, Satan and his minions are a defeated foe (although we still suffer from the effects of evil), and therefore Revelation chapter 22: 1-5 is where we are at. WE HAVE ACCESS TO THE TREE OF LIFE (WHICH IS FOR THE HEALING OF ALL NATIONS), WE ARE IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD, AND GOD REIGNS! WE ARE NOT WAITING FOR ANYTHING! STOP WAITING!!!!

That's the point of being missional- we must stop waiting. Proper theology is needed to enable the body of Christ to a zeal empowered by knowledge. We have the healing of the nations- the gospel which restores everything to the original intent in the image (idea and concept) of God!

"The next generation of Christians believe that Christ's death and Resurrection were not only meant to save people from something. He wanted to save Christians to something. God longs to restore His image in them, and let them loose, freeing them to pursue His original dreams for the entire world". -Gabe Lyons

As I take a step back and look at the body of Christ (THE CHURCH), specifically here in North America I see a missional crisis due to static. Yet, possessing a zeal empowered by knowledge I feel and see a holy rebellion "based on loving critique of religious institutions modeled by the original apostles and the prophets" on the horizon. In history it was men like Martin Luther who stood up for the Scriptures against tradition, John Wycliffe who did the same, William Tyndale who died to get the Scriptures into even the poorest mans' hands, John Wesley who was committed to "no less than the recovery of the truth, life, and power of earliest Christianity and the expansion of that kind of Christianity", and Dietrich Bonhoeffer who lived out the responsibility of understanding the message. Today, I take the stand- DO YOU?

"There exists in every church something that sooner of later works against the very purpose for which it came into existence. So we must strive very hard, by the grace of God to keep the church focused on the mission that Christ originally gave to it"- C.S. Lewis

It's all about the glory of God and seeing all things restored to His image. We must remember Martin Luther King Jr.'s words "that which we would first change, we must love first".

Zeal and Spiritual Fervor

2011-06-16T16:32:00.000-07:00

"For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge (Romans 10:2)".

I believe we are on the verge of a great movement within Christianity, a reformation that will bring Christianity yet again closer to Biblical Christianity. It is exciting to see and participate in, yet it is sad to see those who are stuck, may I say it bluntly- stuck on stupid- and cannot seem to realize, grow, and climb out of the rut that they are in.

This is the history of Christianity though. We see even since the early centuries of Christianity that there was confusion, doctrines of men, hypocrisy, and so forth, which lead to a culture of backslidden Christians and a working against that which was originally intended through Jesus Christ. Consider the councils of debate in early Christianity ( Acts 15:1-29; 325 A.D. Council of Nicaea, 381 A.D. First Council of Constantinople, 431 A.D. Council of Ephesus, 451 A.D. Council of Chalcedon, 553 A.D. Second Council of Constantinople, to name a few), or the Crusades, the reformations (Protestant Reformation, Anabaptists, Calvinism, Arminianism, etc), and the revivals (Azusa Street, Methodism, William Booth and the Salvation Army, Jesus People of the 1970's, etc), which have all sought to bring Christianity back to the original intentions of Jesus and the Apostles.

For a while now, I have though the Church (the universal body of Christ) needed a revival, and was dead to the mission and life that it received in Christ Jesus. Yet, as time has progressed, especially where I am at right now as a diligent student of the Word of God, I realize we need a reformation. The traditions of men have crept in and made a bed for themselves, and have masqueraded as the truth (isn't that the style of evil?- ), and now with a comfortable foot in the door- they are able to discredit truth when it comes up.

Remember - John Huss?

So many professing Christians have no studied enough to discern the knowledge of God, and this is ridiculous because salvation comes through knowledge of God. Without true knowledge and understanding of the things of God we can create a zeal, that seems to be right, but is not and is labeled- "zeal without knowledge". This is not Christianity- rather Christianity is zeal empowered by knowledge, after all it is Jesus Christ who said "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free" (John 8:31-32).

In Romans chapter 10, Paul addressed this issue. The Jews were the people of the Old Covenant with God, the chosen people of God through the Law of Moses and circumcision and they were consistently criticized and yelled at by the prophets to get in line with who god called them to be. The Messiah, whom was predicted throughout the Old Testament (The Law and the Prophets) arrived on the scene and yet again many missed out on acting in accordance with who God called them to be. They had zeal, a zeal for their traditions, and a zeal for what they thought was right, but this zeal without knowledge, failing to realize the truth, would be their downfall. The truth that they were missing was Jesus Christ (who is and was The Truth- John 14:6). Due to their faulty understanding and not willing to listen to the truth, they were missing the mark.

Do you see where they went wrong? We are at a similar point today. Fact of the matter is- do you know what you believe? Why, is it based on truth or tradition of what you think is right? Have you examined this knowledge? Searched the Scriptures? If you have not, can you quote possibly be guilty of having zeal without knowledge?

I ask you to consider this because I see the professing people of God (Christians) to be in a dangerous place right now. In an age of information and knowledge, we have become lazy and apathetic; this has led many to have zeal without knowledge. The truth will always prevail, especially in the matters of a Mighty God, but where will you stand?

Ask Questions. Demand Answers. This will be the cry of the next reformation in Christian History. Let the "Holy Rebellion" begin, a reformation based on loving critique of religious institutions and teachings of men, in the style of the Apostles and prophets. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, "That which we would change. We must first love".

"This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of truth (1 Timothy 2:3-4)".

(Knowledge of God is salvation, See: Luke 1: 76-77; John 8:32; and 2 Peter chapter 2).

A Day in the Life

2011-05-16T10:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, so let's look at a day in your life. We are all going to die, right? Well than you might as live it up by your own standards and do as you do. How is that working for you? Let's face is your not completely satisfied, so now you decide to start fixing up the mess you created, how do you do this? Well, besides the basics like job, car, making things right at home, maybe, just maybe some of that "spiritual stuff" them Christians (not the Muslims there kind of bugged out), but that Christian things sounds like it might be a good way to get on the right track, hey it might just be right, after all who doesn't want to go to heaven? Man, this whole being good for God thing isn't all that easy, you start feeling bad constantly, you always need to repent and try better. Let's face it , that constant trying not to sin, and trying again not to sin thing isn't exactly working- your a sinner (Romans chapter 3; James 1:13-14; 1 John 2:15-17)). But you look around, all these so-called Christians don't have it all together, maybe the pastor, but atleast your trying your best and God sees that and you have the hope that you will die and since you confessed Jesus name, you will die and be in heaven. WELL, GUESS WHAT?? That is everything but salvation. First, that is zeal without knowledge, salvation and faith are based upon the knowledge of God, therefore understanding why and what you are convinced of is important. 2nd, your apathy of just trying your best and getting by- looks horrible as a witness for Christ and is not pleasing in the eyes of God (ahh..the lukewarm message!).

Imagine this with me. Jesus Christ came to destroy the works on the devil (1 John 3:5-8; John 12:31; Matthew 12:22-30; Colossians 2:13-15; Hebrews 2:14; Revelation 20 cf. Revelation 22:15; Romans 16:20). This leads to a process in theology called "Soteriology", which means study of salvation. Jesus Christ initiated and fulfilled the process of redemption and salvation (also justification and glorification) for mankind. God creates covenants, we read about these in Scipture (covenants with Abraham, Jacob, Moses, the nation of Israel, and finally through all of those- those who rest in the assurance and faith of Jesus Christ). - that is the whole story in a nutshell.

Understanding this and living with this understanding leads to a life without sin and death (Hebrews 9:26-28; Romans 6:4-7, 23; Romans 8:1-2;1 Corinthians 15:20-28 cf. 2 Timothy 1:8-10; Romans 7:7-11; Romans 5:12-14; Romans 4:13-15; James 2:10), a life that has been transformed by the presence of God and will never end (John 8:49-59; John 11:25-26; Titus 1:2; Jude 1:21; John 3:16 ), and the power of being a child of God with a power that is unmatchable (Ephesians chapters 1-2).

Do you see why that zeal without knowledge just flat out sucks? God loves us and fulfilled this plan for us to grow into it with all our mind, hearts, soul and strength.

Fact of the matter is that Jesus Christ did not fail in what He had come to do. To destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:5-8). The Bible is the story of how man allowed Satan to get in the way of a perfect relationship with God (which causes man to die, spiritually- Genesis216-17 cf. Isaiah 59:1-2 ) and then God being a loving an amazing God through His ultimate wisdom and glory restored that relationship by fulfilling His promises and defeating death- this is called the Kingdom of God ( Revelation 21:1-5; Mark 1: 14-15, 25; Luke 15:21-24), which is what leads us to salvation. Did you catch that?

When you begin to understand and realize the true message and good news of Jesus Christ, you glorify God. John Piper said, "God is most satisfied when we are most satisfied in Him". Through the Word of God, we begin to have a renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2). This renewed mind allows for us to engage the world in a whole new way, we are ambassadors and proclaimers of a whole new way- as Shane Claiborne and those within his community would say- "Another world is possible!". As Christians we don't live in a battle between sin and death, life and joy- the battle has been won, our Lord is King! We have the freedom through the knowledge of God to make all thoughts captive to Christ ( 2 Corinthians 10:5).

As an ambassador of the kingdom of God thats the offer I extend to you. Within the kingdom of God we have a glorious message of how amazing and glorious God is, this message is the healing of all nations (Revelation 22: 2) and the water of life to all who are thirsty (Revelation 22: 17).

What do you think?

Live-Love-Laugh, all for the glory of God,
Michael Miano

*Do you fully understand God's plan of redemption? Ever wonder why, either as a Christian or an unbeliever- you struggle with the concepts of battling sin? Contact me and we can go through it. In the meantime- Search the Scriptures!

Salvation understood (study some verses)-
Hebrews 10:35-39; Romans 13:11-12; Revelation 12:10; I Thessalonians 5:8;
Luke 21:28; Ephesians 1:14; 4:30; Romans chapter 8; Hebrews 9:23-28; Romans 13:11-12; Hebrews 11
Isaiah 11:6-9 cf. Ephesians 2:17-18
Isaiah 65-66 cf. John 11:25-26
2 Corinthians 5:1-4 (better yet, read all of 2 Corinthians)

ASK QUESTIONS, DEMAND ANSWERS!!

The Aftermath of Acts (and notes from Driscoll's book- Radical Reformission)

2011-03-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me- the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace (Acts 20:24)" We as 21st Century Christians owe a lot of tribute to the early apostles, specifically the apostle Paul for the work he did in spreading the gospel to all the nations ( ultimately, fulfilling the Great Commission) which by 62 A.D. was fulfilled (Romans 16:25-26; Romans 1:5,8; Colossians 1:5-6,23). Today, there is a lot of confusion as to how the Great Commission applies to our context (which I will hopefully clear up in this blog), but true understanding of the proper context brings a greater understanding as to the Christian's purpose in the world today. Understanding applications in context is properly done by utilizing the concept of audience-original relevancy (what a message means to the people it is given to) and the aspects of covenantal understanding (how God works in agreements with specific people) helps clarify the gospel and gives true zeal. “...I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge (Romans 10:2)". God originally chose the ancient Israelites to make covenant with, this meant that He would exhibit his glory through them (which would turn out to be many blessings and curses, don't all good things come with some responsibility? -the Law). The ultimate goal of this covenant with these chosen people was to namely shown the glory of God through them by obedience to the Law of Moses( which temporarily closed the gap between mankind and God due to sin- Galatians chapter 3) which in time would lead to 'calling all the nations' (Isaiah 42, 49- and pretty much all prophetic language in Old Testament relates to how the calling of Abraham to be a blessing to all nations would amount to the Gentiles coming to faith through the Messiah through Israel- Luke chapter 2). The Messiah would usher in the kingdom of the God, which we as Christians know to be the life and purpose of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom of God- which at that time was at hand- until all things be fulfilled (Luke chapter 21, specifically verse 31). Jesus Christ, the Savior, would bridge the gap that was created by sin and thus through fulfilling the Law, all nations would be able to approach God, and have His presence among them (Revelation 21-22). The Great Commission- as we see at work in the book of Acts- was the proclamation of the good news of the kingdom of God- which was to soon be among all people- through the realization and faith (understanding) of salvation in Jesus Christ (Matthew 18:3; I Corinthians 15). Understandably, today there are many different views of the end times, but it is this writer's opinion through study and observation, that the end times in the Bible- were the end times of the Old Covenant- and therefore, the kingdom of God would be ushered in to this world as the end time prophecies were fulfilled (Matthew 24, Luke 21, and Mark 13). God has continually dealt with mankind through covenants and we constantly see this concept used in Scripture. Understanding the covenant relationships and that they were and are based upon is vital to understanding how God was and is dealing with people today. Beginning with Adam and Eve, God began his covenant-relationship with them in the Garden (Genesis chapter 2-3). The disobedience of Adam led to the curse of mankind which was the separation between mankind and God. Through His loving grace, God established a covenant with His chosen people Israel, a covenant that would welcome them back into communion with Him through obedience to the Law of Moses and this would enable them to be His Holy nation, the people He would bless and curse by their faith and obedience. Ultimately, this covenant was designed to meet the bigger plan of God which was to bring all nations back into communion with Him. Therefore, God created this holy nation called Israel to be an example to other nations, and to also birth the Messiah through the lineage of Abraham, under the law of Moses- providing structure of faith and obedience. The Messiah would bring in the New Covenant which would fulfill the obligations of the Law of Moses through the blood of Jesus Christ- that way the old way of ritual and strict obedience that the Israelites had to follow was replaced with LOVE. This love would now welcome all people by grace, love, and faith to be welcomed back into communion with God through salvation in Jesus Christ. Throughout the book of Acts we see the apostles of Christ caught up in the excitement of God's grace and that now God was bringing all nations (even the Gentiles) back into relationship with Him- the kingdom of God. Understanding the practical excitement of the apostles being commissioned to tell those outside of the people of Israel that they are welcomed in through God's grace is important because it helps understand even the aspect of Bible study. This was an end of the Israelite world and a new thing was taking place, a new time, and the product that was being offered was the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:7-13; Hebrews 10:15-18; Acts 11:19-21 and so on...). Now for the topic of the hour. What does that mean for us today? Are we proclaiming the same message as the apostle Paul? Same reasons? Same outcomes? Same expectations? Well considering that Paul and the other apostles were looking forward to the destruction of Jerusalem, namely the temple- which would bring about the new heavens and the new earth- it is clear that since then things are a bit different. We are in the post-new covenant era now, which means that all aspects that the apostles and Gentiles of the early church were waiting for have been fulfilled- in 70 A.D. I am more and more convinced that we have gotten deceived after Constantine and lost the true outward expression of the gospel of the kingdom of God- and settled for mere "Spiritual talk"- rather than being burdened and inspired to make the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven, a reality. Today, the gospel of the kingdom of God is not at hand, it is among us. Accepting the fact that we are currently in the new heavens and the new earth is an issue for many people, because it is so much easier to look forward to something rather than actually have to work toward it, in there here and now. Well guess what, its reality and truly coming to terms with it, is freedom-giving and compelling (both of which are much needed in the Church today). Ok, so let's look at Revelation 21-22, to get a better picture of what the Church should be offering and "our message" today. In chapter 21, we get a spiritual look at the kingdom of God coming down to be among us- whereas God will be among us and live with us. We will be His people, He our God- and all tears and sorrows- of the old order will pass away. The Old Covenant was a ministration of death (2 Corinthians 3:7-15), therefore the passing of this old order would relieve the people of God from the burden of law and sin (Galatians chapter 4). Glory to God- He has made all things new. So, at this point "it is done", prophetically speaking all things have come to fulfillment and now it is all about the over comers. The kingdom of God is spiritual, and therefore nothing vile (remember we are all vile sinners- therefore it is the yoke of Christ that allows us to approach the presence of Christ- and all glory to God that we have the opportunity without ritual or sacrifice). As we live in this kingdom- we know and "see" the we no longer live under the curse of sin (Revelation 22:3), glory of God Almighty and the Lamb being the temple (Revelation 21: 22-27), the river of Life (Revelation 22:1-2), the kingship of Jesus and being recognized by His name (Revelation 22:3-4), living in the light (Revelation 22:5), and finally washing our robes so that we may approach the tree of life (which leaves bring healing to all nations) and the opportunity granted to us to enter the gates of the city (Revelation 22:14-15). Let us proclaim this message continually and eternally, and invite others into the Kingdom of God- in this many we glorify God! Don't you see how this should excite us? We have truly been set free and blessed by His presence and the fulfillment of prophecy- and this is exactly what excited the apostles all throughout the book of Acts. (We must realize that application in context makes so much sense- they were the generation that experienced the fulfillment, we glean the results). Understanding the full realization of the gospel (the good news) of the kingdom of God among us creates a demand for a radical response- what I like to call THE TROUBLEMAKER AFFECT. We have been set free from religion (the old covenant) to live in love, to imagine the um-imaginable, to view another world being possible (the kingdom of God) and to enact it by any means necessary. We have a message, the message from God that brings healing to all nations, revives the Spirit and soul, glorifies God, and leads us to realize our fullest potential. This is truly zeal with knowledge. Mark Driscoll wrote a book called Radical Reformission, which helps us become "culturally liberal yet theologically conservative", after all the subtitle of his book is "Reaching Out Without Selling-Out". Therefore, after reading through the book, I would like to share some thoughts and even answer some of his reformission questions (I would invite all to check out the book). John 4:1-42, speaks about Jesus and the Samaritan woman. Mark Driscoll utilizes this Biblical passage to help us highlight who are "the Samaritans" in our location and culture. Looking at our culture today, and the unfortunate Christian sub-culture we have created, there is a wide gap. In some future posts I will talk more about this and the new book I am looking to read- The Next Christians by Gabe Lyons, which details what we need to be. We have created a culture that pretty much puts anyone who does not agree with our specific set church doctrine or anyone who does not attend church regularly- namely that specific church we might attend, as Samaritans. Rather than understanding the Christian community as a fluid movement of passionate Christ-followers, we have settled and compromised (much due to a lack of passion) for a semblance of Church which extends to a watered down "religious" message. My opinion is grasping emergent and missional concepts will help us begin to bridge the gap between the people of God and those outside the kingdom gates. The second chapter of Driscoll's book deals with the gospel. I love how he invites us to creatively understand and apply to gospel in context- which is hardly done today- due to a lack of application and contextual understanding. Some invites are: if you were to write a gospel for people in your cultural where would you start, how would you explain sin, how would you explain Jesus, what parts of Jesus' message would you place extra emphasis on (I will save that for another blog- this should be fun). "...as the gospel moves into new cultures in our day, and as new cultures emerge, we must struggle to sift out what is cultural and what is Scriptural". I loved Mark's 3rd chapter which talked about Shotgun Weddings to Jesus, which I thought was a great way to explain common day gospel sharing (alter calls and evangelism) as well as discipleship. We obviously need to properly understand the call of Christ, count the cost, and allow the renewing gospel to take root in our lives (isn't it funny that radical is derived from the word rooted?). A proper understanding of sin is vital in exhibiting the gospel and walking in the day (Romans chapter 13). Driscoll deals well with understanding culture, and applying the gospel- as we get into chapter 5, we begin to get missional in our approach. Mark makes good points for us to go out of our routine to start learning about the culture, read things we wouldn't normally read, and talk to people we wouldn't normally talk to- truly start to understand the culture- that way we can effectively make disciples (after all isn't that what this is all about??). Finally at the end of the book, Mark Driscoll begins to provide more balance, through which we can examine ourselves- are we Pharisaic, Essenic, or way too immersed in culture? Understanding ourselves in light of modern or postmodern attitude- areas that clearly need balance.

Well, this blog turned out a bit longer than I wanted. I hope that if you have held on this long and read through it, that you have been inspired and burdened by the gospel and the responsibility to live through Acts! We must begin to be missional with our message, emergent without understanding, and contextual with our applications!

Live in love, by, in, and through Jesus Christ, Mike Miano

*Check out my latest video presentation of the gospel!

Emerging Thoughts and Definitive Unity

2011-02-22T11:18:00.000-08:00

The early Church was characterized by controversy, discussion, and debate concerning most things that were very dear to them (namely the Law of Moses and it's application- whether it was the Pharisaic view, these new radicals called Christians, Gnostics, or the Gentile people). Even consider the debate between believers(Peter and Paul- Galatians 2:11-21, and Paul and Barnabas-Acts 15), or even more consider all the councils and reformations throughout church history where we get much of the facts of our faith from (Council of Nicaea, Council of Constantinople, or the Council of Ephesus- just to name a few). The greatest thing about this was that even with all the discussion and difference going on, everyone (namely the body of Christ) knew the reality of things, that which really mattered- expression of the New Covenant brought to fruition through Jesus Christ (although there was a lot of debate on how exactly it applied in certain contexts).

As a 27 year old male, who aspires to be a church planter and lead a congregation, the emerging trends coupled with denominational traditions have been disturbing at times, but more so very inspiring. As I always say, "I have a lot of hope in the next generation", especially in context of bringing unity into the Church (and I mean that in aspects of mission, theology, exemplifying our faith with integrity, loving God and others, passion, and ultimately changing the world through the gospel of Jesus (kingdom of God type of stuff).

However today there seems to be a gap in the church between the "traditionalists" and the emerging thoughts of what could be called "radical traditionalists". Both camps are ever-reforming in certain contexts yet fail to consider what the other camps brings to the communion table (pun intended). So here is where we must challenge ourselves to consider what has changed in the church, and why do so many fear the aspects of critical realism? In the Word of God we are challenged to study for the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2), which is a constant thing, and should continue and allow for the challenge of paradigm shifts.

The definitive unity that is somewhat missing is contexts of the body of Christ as a whole is the lack of willingness for discussion, debate, and challenge. For example, Rob Bell a pastor of Mars Hill Church, recently made this statement:

“What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real, earthly, biological father named Larry, and archeologist find Larry’s tomb and do DNA samples and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was really just a bit of mythologizing the Gospel writers threw in to appeal to the followers of the Mithra and Dionysian religious cults that were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose gods had virgin births? But what if, as you study the origin of the word ‘virgin’ you discover that the word ‘virgin’ in the gospel of Matthew actually comes from the book of Isaiah, and then you find out that in the Hebrew language at that time, the word ‘virgin’ could mean several things. And what if you discover that in the first century being ‘born of a virgin’ also referred to a child whose mother became pregnant the first time she had intercourse? What if that spring were seriously questioned? Could a person keep on jumping? Could a person still love God? Could you still be a Christian? Is the way of Jesus still the best possible way to live? Or does the whole thing fall apart?…If the whole faith falls apart when we reexamine and rethink one spring, then it wasn’t that strong in the first place, was it?”
When I first heard about this I was shocked that a fellow-Christ follower would say something so ludicrous, yet now that I put it in contexts of what he was trying to say, it made perfect sense (it is somewhat interesting that I have experienced this a lot as a person willing to learn- that many times when people say something that is seemingly crazy, upon research and context, it actually makes a lot more sense than I originally thought. This is what we call a paradigm shift, and it is something a majority within the body of Christ are in dire need of in order to create- definitive unity.

I realize- sometimes we dig to deep and get hung up on the "deeper issues" that divide us as the body of Christ ( although I add the disclaimer that many times some of these issues really do matter) but all in all- what is the main thing? THE GOSPEL. We can all agree that the message of the Messiah was good news that the kingdom of God is at hand, and yes, even with that statement I know where defenses and debates arise, but let us focus on the simple aspect and the mission to be ambassadors. As the body of Christ- outwardly we need to be on mission and defined by unity, yet inwardly we need to be open to discuss and debate- emerging thoughts.

I salute the body of Christ- in efforts of emerging thoughts and definitive unity,

Michael Miano

For more thought:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1374/is_5_59/ai_55722258/

http://ad70.net/variety-helps-to-prevent-an-isolated-society/

Consider watching the movie "Accepted", a hilarious comedy in which an emergent minded individual should ask- what is tradition? How do we look at the fruits of our traditions?

LOL- Did I find God, or did He find me? hmmm...

How Rich are You? (Riches in Christ study)

2011-01-14T16:57:00.000-08:00

(Isaiah 55 (cross reference with book of Revelations); 2 Corinthians 6:10; James 2:5; Ephesians 2:7, chapter 3; Colossians 1:27; 2:2; Revelations 3:18)
“God doesn’t just want you to worship Him; He wants you to know WHY you worship Him….great love is born f great knowledge…learn more worship more”. –Mark Batterson, Primal.
FULFILLED HOPE CONTRAST TO “A MISPLACED HOPE” (Example- Heaven’s Gate)
Resurrection (Hope of Israel) 1 Corinthians 15: Old to New – Acts 24:15; Acts 23:6 cf. Acts 28:20; Acts 26:6-8
Titus 2:13; I Peter 1:13; I John 3:2-3; I Thessalonians 5:8; Titus 1:2; 3:7; Matthew 5:17-18
“The Old Covenant Hope (of Israel) has become the New Covenant reality”
“Eternal life, salvation, and righteousness was the hope of “this age”, but became full possession of the Church at the Second Coming” – paraphrased; The Preterist Voice

LIVING IN HIS PRESENCE (GOD CONSCIOUSNESS)
What did or was the importance of God’s presence to Old Testament Jews?
Psalms 139:7-12; Psalms 16:11; Psalms 23; Psalms 51:11
Old Covenant V. New Covenant
Exodus 25:8 Matthew 16:18
Exodus 29:43, 45 John 4:21, 23
Numbers 11:16,17 Acts 7:48
Numbers 12:5 Colossians 1:18
Deuteronomy 31:15 Hebrews 8:2
I Chronicles 6:48 Hebrews 9:11, 24
Revelations 21:3
Book- The Practice of the Presence of God
His presence enables us to live a life in response to what He has done.
• Not to get ultra-spiritual but you know that emotional moment when you sing and praise, reflect and meditate on what God has done in you and through you? That is His presence.
Jesus came preaching the: KINGDOM OF GOD
Old Testament understanding? The glories of this reality?
Matthew 6:33; Matthew 13: 31-32
Read- blogs @ Freaked-Out Mindset (Mike Miano) – “What are You Screaming with Your Life?”
“God’s people, in God’s place,- under God’s rule” – PresentTruthMag.com
Restoring Eden!
Prophecy concerning the Kingdom of God: Ezekiel 36-37; Isaiah 7,9,11,51,53; Ezekiel 47 cf. Revelations 22; Daniel 9
GRACE AND FREEDOM IN AND THROUGH JESUS CHRIST
Personal Righteousness- His Righteousness
Temporary Forgiveness- Complete Forgiveness
Old Covenant Law- New Covenant Grace
Romans 7-8; Acts 15; Ephesians 2:8; Romans 14; Galatians 6:2; James 2:8

HEDONIST-OUR LIVES ARE TO GLORIFY HIM, BY SEEKING HIM!
The Riches of Incomparable glory- Ephesians 2:7
“God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him” – John Piper, Desiring God
Psalms 16:11; Hebrews 12:1-2; Philippians 3:8; Matthew 13:44-46; Psalms 37:4; Whole book of Ecclesiastes

SHINING THE LIGHT OS SALVATION (EVANGELISM)
• Consider the lyrics to the song, Shining the Light of Salvation, by Desperation Band
o “We were made for such a time as this, to make a difference in the world we live. Now we live!...Whose living a life worth living, were shining the light of salvation”.
John 1:4-5; John 8:12; Revelations 21:23; John 12:46; Matthew 5:16; I Peter 2:9
The Lamp Parable- Mark 4:21-24
Salvation was a promise to the Jews, which would eventually through fulfilled promises of the New Covenant reach the Gentiles: Isaiah 11:9-11; Luke 2:32; Isaiah 42 (specifically verse 6); Isaiah 49:6; Acts 13:45-47; Acts 26:22-24
Tree Parable- Mark 4:30-32

NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH
“NEW”-changing the world
This New understanding should lead us in love to “turn the world upside-down”
Revelations 21:1; Isaiah 65:17 (both speak to Salvation, our relationship with God)
-Note that Isaiah’s context was the coming New Covenant

SONS/ DAUGHTERS OF THE MOST HIGH! LIVE IN THESE RICHES!
Romans 8:14, 19; Galatians 3:26-29; 4:5; Ephesians chapter 1

Good Ole’ New Years

2011-01-06T17:31:00.000-08:00

Well here we are January 6, 2011. This New Year has not been met with much enthusiasm as I had seen in 2010, have we given up on the dreams of new hopes, new possibilities, etc.? I know in my case it is that I am still kind of caught up in the gains and pains of 2010.
11-11-11, will happen this year, so what’s your wish? What better than to commit now to making wishes that will become realities in 2011 or even 2012, come on now people, a little optimistic enthusiasm here (maybe I am trying to convince myself as well).
I am very strongly opinionated on the concept of setting New Year’s resolutions, as you will notice if you check out my blog around this time last year. Looking back at last year’s resolutions and putting them into the proper context, I would say I did fairly well. Pursuing His righteousness is a will be a continued goal, a good understanding I have learned through 2010 was that it wasn’t my righteousness but the righteousness of Jesus Christ that is vital to my life in Him (check out my blog about Puritanical Ostracism in September 2010). Also, missional courage and imagination coupled with striving toward a stronger prayer live will always be goals to elevate. Simplifying my life and loving Gabriella are double edged issues, which work in and out of each other (further explanation by personal communication). And the p90X was a failed adventure, Gabriella stuck it through and my Aunt Joanne may have gave it the best effort, but it was clearly not for me (ha ha ha). Bucket list ideas still going, still alive, and even more so free to live for Him by more and more knowledge of Him.
Ok, now into 2011. My simplified resolution is summed up in Matthew 6:33 which says "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and allow all things to be added unto you”. To explain- my goal for 2011 is to allow God to continually be first in all things by loving Him with my mind heart, soul, and strength coupled with allowing my goals (resolutions) to fall into place of what His kingdom and righteousness look like in my life. I detail these for accountability my brothers and sisters!
My own car by March,
Read entire Bible through Hebrew and Greek (still looking for study ideas...),
Memorize at least 1 entire book of the Bible (currently looking at Ephesians or Colossians),
Study systematic theology (basically have a solid foundational theology that I can clearly and concisely explain),
Start writing my personal book (possibly finish),
Develop my savings and credit accounts, build up a stronger God consciousness (love God with my soul!!),
Graduate,
Further my endeavors of church planting (begin plans, attend conferences, have meetings, etc.),
Learn basic Spanish and Arabic (maybe one or the other),
Continually participate in a holy experiment of living out the Bible
(Mark Batterson says: “What if every time we came across a verse that told us to do something, we thoughtfully and prayerfully figured out a way to translate it with our lives? What if we consistently, creatively, and courageously acted on each verse? What if we turned every verse into a HOLY EXPERIMENT”)?
As I finalize and sign off my resolutions I want to add some accountability factors. This year as I live seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness, I strive to live with honesty and integrity in all things. Also, many goals are a virtue but I also want to accomplish some compassion-casting (opposed to vision casting- thanks Jim), I want to live a life that is challenging and inspiring but also LOVE MORE, LISTEN MORE, AND UNDERSTAND MORE!
-------Michael A. Miano-------
Well, thanks for reading. And it’s never too late to begin making 2011 resolutions. If you have made some I would love to share coffee, tea, or water (lol) with you and hear them as well and help you be accountable. If you have yet—let this be your inspiration!
Joy, Peace, and Love, follow me as I follow Jesus,
Mike Miano

Retrospect- 2010

2011-01-01T16:34:00.000-08:00

Well here we are in 2011. The last couple weeks of the year have been a bit a roller coaster therefore actually sitting down and writing this blog is accomplishing a huge feat.
I would like to take out the time to do some examination of the year of 2010. Sitting down and reading the recap of 2009 and my notes from January 2010, is inspiring and am will continually urge others to begin to detail these things.
Looking over my new years resolutions of last year was fun and it helped a bit to put all that was done and accomplished in 2010 into a good perspective (be on the look out for the 2011 resolution blog, I will be posting).

January
The year started out with me having a radical zeal to pursue the kingdom of God (much to the credit of what the Lord is doing in and through Shane Claiborne). I studied the writing, The Early Christians in Their Own Words collected and organized by Eberhardt Arnold. I would reccoment this writing because of the rich history you can learn of the early church and be encouraged, inspired, and challenged by our history as the body of Christ.
“The early Christians challenge us to see discipleship as a path away from “self” toward a wholly transformed social order”.
I learned of the fellow saint Polycarp, who was martyr-ed for his faith and spoke about his statement of “Christianus Sum” (I am a Christian) at the Faith to Faith conference later in the month.
A very pivotal part of my new year was developing a friendship and guidance from pastor Alan Bondar from Messiah Reformed Church (http://www.messiahreformed.com) who through discernment and knowledge of Him led me to embrace Reformed Full Preterism.
* A very strong point that happened even from the beginning of 2010 was the friendships I developed and working toward goals and stronger mission statement for Freaked-Out Fellowship.
January was also the month that I explored Catholicism in tune with my resolutions for Jan-March. I had learned how to pray the full rosary, went rosary prayer group, studied parts of the catechism and so forth (for more info, consider reading the blog post: http://newsfromthetribe.blogspot.com/2010/02/avatars-catholics-and-rosary.html

February began with the quest into Orthodox Christian and praying the khomboskini, and this was a time in honest retrospect that I felt distached from a lively bunch of Christians. I had read the book, The Way: What Every Christian Should Know about the Orthodox Church, and was not exactly in agreement. (Although, I am learning that there are many aspects of Orthodox Christianity that the body of Christ does need to get back to- even to the extent of the Orthodox Christian Bible commentaries).
Freaked-Out Fellowship stopped hosting the Monday night rallies, which was humbling me for to realize that sometimes you need to try and stop if it does not seem to be the proper method. Also, in February I began to attend Messiah Reformed Church and dig deeper into fulfilled eschatology.
Looking back at notes, I realize that my year started out so strongly with the ACTing Out ACTS concept of living and being the radical Christians that we read about in the early church. The persecuted, the hated, the nonconformists, etc...we so desperately need that energy!

March began with reading Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne and Chris Shaw, yet another book that has played an important part in developing my passion for Christ. Also, besides turning 26 on March 3rd, I traveled as a practicing monastic to the New Monasticism conference at Reba Place Fellowship. This was an awesome experience and helped me begin to develop my thoughts more concerning fellowship and new monasticism, also considering an interesting bus ride from Fort Myers, Florida to Evanston, Illinois, dressed like a Franciscan monk. :)

April was a month of study. I recall reading through the Bible in 30 days which was a powerful experience, reminds me of the quote from J.I. Packer, “Any Christian worth his salt ought to read the Bible from cover-to-cover every year”. Also, a detailed study through the prophets in an effort to fully understand the concept of the Prophetic Imagination was a powerful, exciting journey as well. Did you know Isaiah ran around Egypt butt-naked? ha ha ha
Also, in April I became an official Starbucks barista!! whoohoo! Iced Venti 11 pump Vanilla Upside-down Caramel Macchiato (somewhat the kingdom of God in a cup).
May to June, I placed alot of emphasis on studies of both Full Preterism and the Missional Church. Reading through various books such as The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch, Reading the Bible through New Covenant Eyes by Alan Bondar, ReJesus by Alan Hirsch, etc began to really push me into a certain direction- a pret-issional Jesus Freak direction!
“...return to a more pre-Constantinian understanding and experience of church” (Robert Webber)

As we ventured into August it seems as though my life began to take an odd turn. Noticeably things in my life began to take a toll and I lost my focus. It all goes back to that Matthew 6:33 statement, GO READ IT!!!
A valuable lesson I am learning even after a recent study and discussion through the book of Ecclesiastes is that there is a time for everything, and this is something I know I need to learn. prioritizing is important. Looking back, i was doing so much at once, even going against the stream of knowing that my life was having issues, and I experienced a sense of burnout.

September was suppose to be the launch of Freaked-Out Fellowship’s new ideas, but even at that point there were things in life that I should have taken a step back and worked toward a bit of a sabbath. The encouragement of these times was when I did focus on God I was granted bits a pieces of wisdom into His kingdom (the true Kingdom as explained in Romans 14:11). Consistency and persistence is a blessed part of my character that God has given me, and even in the times of trial I always seek to be inspired and burdened by God, which at this time in September 2010 I turned to reading yet again, The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne.
In October I began to get ready for my trip to Israel/ Palestine and tried to remain open minded to my trip and explaining my simple reasons to “know the faces” of those struggling in the Middle East.

Now, November and December where a bit of ups and downs, the true to life realities. In November I was preparing for my trip and it was a struggle, I had alot of crisis’ going on in my personal life (especially in regards to my and Gabriella’s relationship). I ended up going on the trip, even though life almost seemed against me before I left, and upon my return all the stock I had placed in the trip was revealed. The “mission trip effect” happened to my life in more than one way, and that would be a blog or discussion in and of itself. (I WILL WARN YOU THAT OUR GOD IS A FAITHFUL AND SOVEREIGN GOD WHO WILL MAKE HIS WILL HAPPEN IN THE WORLD, WHETHER YOU ASK OR NOT, BUT IF YOU ASK, BE WILLING TO RECOGNIZE YOU ASKED!).

Upon my return from Israel/ Palestine in late November/ early December I have found my world a bit upside-down. Talk about returning from a foreign land to foreign circumstances, that would be the best way to explain it. As I was still processing what I had seen in order to “Know the Faces” in the Middle East, I was also welcomed with beginning to process what was going on in my personal life.
December, probably the most impactful month of the year has seemingly offered a bit of every emotion on the chart. Sadness boy Joy, Loss but Opportunity, Confusion yet Focus. It is in the valley times that we listen and learn the most and that is what I have done with December. Studious might not even describe it well, but you can imagine that much learning and wisdom will be revealed in future blogs. Much more of what December has offered will be revealed in my next upcoming blog concerning 2011.
Let’s wave goodbye to 2010, and welcome in 2011..I wish I could be more parabolic like Jesus or poetic like my friend Q, who wrote her letter/ poem to 2010. With that said, let’s look to be inspired and burdened in 2011.

“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings. (Proverbs 25:2)”.

As a follower of Jesus, by Truth and Spirit,
Michael Miano

Mind Overload

2010-12-21T16:40:00.000-08:00

Mind Overload

Well, it is taking a lot for me to type this blog because of all the events currently going on in my life (in regards to personal issues, still processing my trip to Israel/ Palestine, and doing some recent studies as well).
I want to make sure I give a brief update on how my trip was and what I experienced. Since I returned the common questions I receive are “How was Israel”, “Did you have a good time on your trip”, and “Did you accomplish what you went there for”. Well, visiting Israel/ Palestine was an experience and that’s the best way I can put it and in time I will explain. As far as having a good time, that was hardly the reason I went, although amidst the learning experience there was some fun points such as spending time with our fellow team members, drinking shots in West Jerusalem, playing soccer/ football, and of course seeing the tourist sites that everyone wants to see while in Israel. Now, for the more meaty question of did I accomplish what I set out to do. Absolutely, the basic goal I set was to know the faces, which was pretty much what the whole trip was about. We spent time in many meetings, home visits (even slept in homes and tents), and did all that we could within 2 weeks to understand the conflict. Upon my return I have drafted a basic statement concerning my trip:

“I went to Israel/ Palestine to make and help efforts toward a sustainable peace. I made it my personal agenda to "KNOW THE FACES", which meant knowing the faces of those who are constantly in our media, spoken about in our Christian theology, etc...This has enabled me to understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, whether it's the unrecognized villages of the Bedouins in the Negev or the heavy military presence in Al Khalil.
I am burdened by the demolished homes, illegal settlement expansions, and the inhumane (seemingly systematic destruction) treatment of the Palestinian people, yet I remain optimistic and inspired by Palestinian groups such as The Holy Land Trust, Israeli groups such as ICAHD and Breaking the Silence, as well as international supporters.”
Therefore with that said, I would like to invite you to call or email me to set up a discussion time so I can share more of my information with you. Also, I will be looking to schedule speaking engagements wherever possible, so if you can help me with locations that would be great, or just look out for places that I will post. You can also visit the website I created pertaining to my trip @ http://www.riskybusinessforchrist.weebly.com
Another thing, lately I have been doing extensive studies into fulfilled eschatology and various studies which I look forward to sharing (have become a bit of a aspiring scholar lately). Look forward to these posts.
Until next time, have a great Christmas and remember the revolution that was started by the birth of the Messiah!
Blessings in Christ,
Michael Miano

Ps. Please keep me in prayer concerning my firm conviction to “seek 1st the Kingdom of God” in all things!!! Thank you!

Why Palestine?

2010-11-14T12:11:00.000-08:00

Well, I leave for Palestine in less than 72 hours, and it has been a trying past week at that. Thanks be to God for the strength, all all the loved ones who has helped, discussed, and just cared for me as I have been going through the ringer (I could not have kept my sanity without you all).

I wanted to briefly document my thoughts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and why I feel called to participate in this mission, as I have called "Know the Faces". (http://www.riskybusinessforchrist.weebly.com).

Well, for starters I have never been a dispensationalist, which means I refuse separate the people of God as Israel (God's Chosen) and the church, and this has allowed me to not have blinders concerning Israel( visit this site : http://www.theologicalstudies.org/dispen.html). When I first came to Christ and stood under the teaching of brother Paul Richard Jr. Curran, I learned much of who and what Israel was. I have studies theology and history concerning Israel and have grown to have many concerns about what is going on over in this place once called Canaan.

I remember reading about Rachel Corrie, and how she protested the inhumane treatment of Palestinians and this eventually led to her death (Google: Rachel Corrie). This inspired me because I believe that standing in the face of danger especially in regards to the welfare of people is what Christianity is all about, exactly what we see Jesus Christ doing throughout the gospels( Luke 4:18-21), and this is many senses has come to be labeled liberation theology. Isn't liberation exactly what the New Covenant is about?

Many people question the "no more tears, pain, death" scriptures(Isaiah 25 cf. Revelation 21:1-27) as to apply in some future time or now (the kingdom of God), but looking at this situation in Palestine, and oppressed people all over the world, we have perfect opportunity to live in love and make this "no more tears" concept a reality, RIGHT NOW!!!

I have always been overly- agitated by what we call missions in the Christian church, I have failed to see the element of self-sacrifice and danger that we see in the "Jesus Freaks" and missionaries we read about. And then I stumbled upon the Christian Peacemaker Teams, one of the few groups who seem to understand the concept of "die to self" (Matthew 16:24-25).

The time has come for me as a student of the Word of God, a man who is inspired by those who take initiative, and a conscientious thinker of this Israel thing, to finally "Know the Faces". Yes, I will quote Shane Claiborne (as I do many times) ,

"And I think that's what our world is desperately in need of - lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about." .

This is exactly my goal, to get past the dry knowledge concept and to truly live this out, and my goal is to come home and to tell you all about what I experienced as I sought to be a true Jesus Freak and live this great virtue of love (1 Corinthians 13:3), and in the effort to inspire you to do the same!

All for His Glory, -Jesus Christ
Mike Miano

"Ignorance, while dangerous, is a condition that can be altered - apathy very often is not. Ironically enough, ignorance is not necessarily dangerous until it is paired with apathy - if a person does not know something, it doesn't truly become dangerous until he lacks the desire to learn. While it is true that ignorance is a great way to spread misinformation, apathy is also a great way to make certain that nobody disputes it. There will always be ignorance that seeks to be enlightened - the same cannot be said of apathy. The ignorant can always be informed - it is only when they are too apathetic to care that they no longer ARE informed." - quoted from a anonymous writer

Here are some of my inspirations concerning the Israel/ Palestine Controversy (Disclaimer: I do not agree with everything these books, articles, and people say. Prove all things!).

SoS: Calling the Tribe of Dan by Paul Richard Jr. Curran (ask me about this, available upon request)

Synagoue of Satan by Andrew Carrington Hitchcock

God's Covenant People: Yesterday, Today, and Forever by Ted. Weiland

The Rachel Corrie Story - http://www.rachelcorrie.org/

The Irrisistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne

IfAmericansKnew.org

EndtheOccupation.org

cpt.org- Christian Peacemaker Teams Website

Reformed-Full Pret Theology - consider the Biblical evidence of how God works through covenants (I am always willing to sit down and have some studies based on this, contact me!)

What are you Screaming with your Life? - An Alternative Story

2010-11-02T18:24:00.001-07:00

" He set another parable before them, saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches." (Matthew 13:31-32)

Ok, well wanted to make a video because I believe I can explain the passion of the kingdom of God that is welled up inside me so much better on video or in person, but I’m going to try this method.
Lately I realized through reading and talking with others that the Biblical narrative as a story, causes some questions. For example, why did God choose to operate the way He did? Why Jesus? Why the "Kingdom of God, etc..I have come to realize there is great reward in understanding the "Kingdom of God", and I'm not talking about some "die and go to heaven stuff", I mean more for the here and now, you know "live your best life now" type of stuff.
So what is it?

Let's take it from the beginning. As you open the book of Genesis you meet Adam and Eve, these are the people who God is in covenant with (which means relationship). Most of us have heard the story of the apple of sin many times, so we know that Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Now God created us for a relationship with Him, so God obviously sees the need for some rules in His people. Now we pause..

Why did God want a people? God in His divine wisdom created the natural order of things, the why's and what's of the world, therefore the reality that all good things start as small movements actually isn’t man made sociology (read Margaret Mead) but rather wisdom of God
.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has”-Margaret Mead

So, God takes this small people come to be known as Israelites (the people of God) and institutes a Law ( a fence you could say) to keep them separate from the world. These are the people God cultivates and blesses through time. Many "prophets" pop up here and there and are a bit radical, some see visions concerning the future that will grow beyond the fence and dream of this (the hope of Israel).

As with any spoiled child, these people of God began to feel self-righteous about there doings, and began to condemn all things that were not as they saw fit, and as time progressed they became divisive and hard hearted to the things of God, it was no longer about God’s glory, it became about the preservation of their way of doing things (Biblical language- Pharisee).
Then the Messiah was born. We read about this miraculous virgin birth in the beginning of the biographical books of the Bible (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John- called they Gospels, which we will get into in a moment).

Jesus Christ, known as the son of Joseph, was born the son of God, to fulfill the hope of Israel- the kingdom of God. This kingdom would be the fulfillment of all that the prophets had spoken about and would be the hope of Israel, this is the good news.
Jesus Christ steps on the scene and immediately declares “The kingdom of God is at hand”. Basically the time is now, and he begins to explain.

Now, remember the verse in the beginning of this blog? Re-read it. You see how God works? He started small, instituted a way for this plant to grow separate from weeds and other plants- now he is going to open the gate and let the plant grow in the garden and take over!
Think. Reaping the garden will occur (judgment), cleansing, and then freedom!
As a Christian, you, me and others are this over grown radical garden. The good news Jesus Christ was declaring is that “another world is possible”! He said that to those Jews in His time to let them know the way God has been operating with you guys in the fence is over and a new way is going, and that same concept must be reverberated throughout our time today!

Out of the 12 men that followed Jesus Christ, 11 of them understood what He was saying and drew inspiration from their heroes (the Old Testament Prophets) and as Scripture says “turned the world upside-down”. That is how this kingdom stuff works- we must begin to renew, re-invent, re-imagine another world!

So my question to you? What exactly are you screaming with your life? How are you growing outside the fence?

Good Inspiration concerning this kingdom:
“We are convinced that Jesus came not to prepare us to die but to teach us how to live. The kingdom of God is not just something we hope for when we die but something we “live on earth as it is in heaven.
...but throughout ages, beautiful saints have lived faithfully, giving us hope that a set part people can fascinate and bless the world.
...a movement of people who stepped out of the empire that was oppressing them and began creating a new way of life.
..Christians should be troublemakers, creators of uncertainty, agents of a dimension incompatible with society”.
-Quotes from books written by Shane Claiborne

Till’ I’m Blue-in-the-Face: Why life must be in and through Jesus Christ

2010-10-07T05:50:00.000-07:00

John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me”.

Lately, I have been reading a great book called The Urantia Book, which is deeply metaphysical and a bit universalistic. I have many met people during my Christian walk who are universal and subscribe to the thought that "all ways lead to God”, or as the famous phrase goes- “There is one God but many ways”. Now, as I have been reading through this book, and standing firmly upon my foundation of Jesus Christ, I have challenged myself as to WHY MUST IT BE JESUS? Why do I feel the urge to defend the inerrancy of the Word of God and salvation of men through Jesus Christ?
Well, let me start off by admitting I believe in absolute truth. The philosophers struggled with this concept of truth and it tends to get a bit sticky at times, but if there is truth there has to be absolute truth. Jesus Christ said, “I am the truth..”.

I love stories of people who have been completely against Christianity and sought to prove its error, but in the end face Jesus Christ, the Truth, head on and become Christians. (Admittedly, because that is my story). It requires alot of humility to face the fact that your presuppositions are wrong, and the lack of humility has worked to the disadvantage of many.
As I tell many people, I am a firm believer that if you set out on a truth quest (similar to Ghandi), and are honest in the face of controversy and facts, you will eventually be led to Jesus Christ.
A great book to read would be Lee Strobel’s, A Case for Christ. With that said, the documentation of the Bible and the historicity of the Christian movement clears many doubts. There are many external resources to document the life of Jesus Christ and his movement, so as to make the reality of His life and movement a fact. The issue does not reside in whether or not Jesus lived on earth and started a movement now called Christianity- that's all reliable and unarguable history.
Here are some research sites:
http://dmc.members.sonic.net/sentinel/naij3.html
http://www.leaderu.com/truth/1truth22.html

The issue resides in whether or not he was the Christ that the Israelite’s were waiting for and what exactly did He do?
Alot of misunderstandings of who and what Jesus Christ was and accomplished are to blame for the lack of many fully understanding this “Christianity thing”.
We must seek to understand God, after all isn’t that what this journey is all about. The expression of the Church that I congregate with -Messiah Reformed Church- holds to mission statement of “Pursuing and Sharing our Joy in the Knowledge of Him”. That is our goal to grow and develop in our knowledge of Him, which through proper understanding will produce joy.

As we study through the Old Testament, we learn of God creating a covenant with a group of people- First God saves Noah, leads Abraham to another land, Jacob (Israel) becomes the covenant people, and then Moses is called to be a leader of the people and to institute a way of life for the people of God. This is all leads up to what is called the Old Covenant.
These covenant people- which basically means those who are in agreement with God, are those who will receive God’s guidance and blessings. I recently asked my pastor- “Why did God choose to create a covenant with the Israelites”, we don’t know specifically, but what we can extract out of the Word of God is that it was for His glory!

God’s chosen people, were to be a separate people for the glory of God, and this came with responsibility which lead to the Law of Moses (much of what we understand as the 10 Commandments). This was a hard responsibility for the Israelites that’s why we have books such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel and all the others- who were prophets pretty much yelling at the people of God and the surrounding nations, and who spoke God’s divine judgments and in many senses God’s displeasure with how His people were acting.

So, this is where the plot thickens and Jesus Christ comes into play. From the outset we must fully understand that we cannot think like God, so there will be unanswered questions (Isaiah 55:8), but we can and must dig as deep as we can to understand what we can. The fancy words use to describe God are, He is Omnipresent, Omnipotent, and Omniscient, which basically mean that He alone is God and that He is beyond time, everywhere, and always able to do as He pleases. Jesus Christ was the plan from the beginning (best to always remember that this whole thing is for His glory!), and this was all to demonstrate His love and desire to have a people of His own, who love Him with all their hearts, minds, souls, and strengths.

Jesus Christ, was the fulfillment of what all the prophets were speaking about. The Messiah who would make all things new! If you ever take the time to read through the biblical prophets you will see a common theme- they all look to a time of judgment and restoration of Israel, and this was expected to come through the Messiah.
Read Isaiah 9:1-7;11:1-12:6; 40:1-5; 42:1-9; 49:8-26; 55:1-13;61:1-11; 65:1-28 (How can you not get excited when considering all of God’s “I wills...”
Jeremiah 23:1-7; 30:1-31:38 (The famous New Covenant prophesy)
OK, that's just to name a few..but really sit down and read through those verses..The time of the Messiah would be great and would open new doors for new stuff..Man, this New Covenant would be radical and exciting.

OK, so for those skeptical of Jesus Christ... I refuse to spend much time on this topic because proving the existence of the man Jesus who lived in the Middle East is similar to proving your existence, its that elementary. I venture to say that ignorance is the only reason people can still say “I don’t believe Jesus of Nazareth existed”. But...let’s say you do:
Was He a liar? Maybe just made it all up?!?!?! (that makes it more confusing).
Was He a madman? He obviously believed what He said because it’s simply, what He said and did that got him killed (which is also documented history).
Was He exactly what He said He was?
THESE ARE THE OPTIONS....

"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us." -C.S. Lewis

The reality of this new covenant- OK, so here we are. The New Covenant is a reality and it must be through Jesus Christ, simply because Jesus was the awaited Messiah of the Israelite people, who were God’s chosen, and their judgment and redemption made the redemption of all the other nations possible (read- Romans 9:4-5, 15:8; Isaiah 49:6; Matthew 10:5-6; John 4:22, or better yet read the whole Biblical account from Genesis to Revelation).

We have been welcomed into this agreement with God to be a people marked by love and truth. Live is a matter of restoration, it’s not through self-righteousness which the Israelite people had to do through the Law, but rather through Jesus Christ(2 John 6; Matthew 22:37-40; Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 6:2, and as always there is plenty more if you dig). A life of freedom and love, a revolution that the 11 men who followed Jesus started, and we must zealously live out today!

Simply said, this whole Christianity thing is not what it seems. Jesus Christ did not start a religion, instead He set religion on fire and started a movement through that fire( the New Covenant). The new way of doing things....
So, are you still skeptical? Are you telling me that this whole thing is a mass conspiracy of love???? What?!?

Ha, Ha..hope I ended that with a little laugh..guess what? We are free to laugh! I hope I challenged some thoughts concerning life and Life (Jesus Christ), as always would love to talk these topics out with you...It’s that important!

Love, peace, and joy,
Mike Miano

P.S.- Lately, I have been participating in a discipleship class called Alpha, which explains and fosters discussion concerning “Why Jesus”. You can watch the video’s at

http://www.alphausa.org/Groups/1000057989/VIDEOS.aspx

Puritanical Ostracism

2010-09-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

Last night, Gabriella and I went to see the movie, Easy A. The movie was a high school flic based on The Scarlett Letter, I guess one could venture to say a modern day tale. The term "Jesus Freak" was used much too imply the religious crowd at school who pretty much made all the gossip spread and judged everyone on campus (sounds a lot like today's churchianity, doesn't it?).
"Puritanical Ostracism" was a term used the movie by a girl who was labeled a "skank" and embraced it by putting the red letter A on her clothing as taken from the movie The Scarlett Letter.
A bit of history of the Puritans. (Yes, Gabriella had to deal with this right after the movie, laughs). The Puritans are pretty much what we owe our tribute to here in America, since America was suppose to be the land where the kingdom of God would spawn. These people from England wanted to create a pure, set apart nation for God, and would deem themselves "the godly". If one reads about Puritan Theology, you will most likely read about how to abstain from sin, become pure in mind, and living a very devout life.
Now, first I would like to say that I am fond of many Puritan writings and contributions to Christianity, but I do recognize some flaws that have become very prevalent in American Christianity. I would definitely attribute much of the religiosity of our Christianity to the Puritans.
For example, this desire to be holy and righteous, rather than seeking His righteousness and allowing God to do work through you, is very evident. The end result is more Pharisaic than it is Christ-like. Remember when Jesus approached the woman caught in adultery? (John chapter 7). "You without sin throw the first stone". Where is that attitude today?
Also, the constant discussion of demons, devils, and sin is another given to Puritan Theology. I had this discussion with a man the other night who seemed to deem everything in the world demonic. Why don't we just listen to Jesus Christ and "seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.."? How so? Read Romans chapter 14, emphasis on verse 11, "The kingdom of God is righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit".
The movie Easy A, gave me a harsh glimpse into what "non-Christians" are seeing within us as the Church. Our shift has become highly Pharisaic and we are quickly becoming the people Jesus Christ yelled at the most.
As I seek to draw closer to Christ, to learn more about Him, His good news, and His kingdom, I am realizing that it is a messy, upside-down journey...we need to focus on creating righteousness, joy and peace by living missionally and being the change we want to see in the world.
I have committed myself to no longer dwell on what "they" (the world, other Christians, etc) don't have, but rather begin to truly live in what we do have- righteousness, peace, and joy through the Holy Spirit.

by His wonderful Grace,
Mike Miano

"According to His critics, Jesus "did God" all wrong. He went to the wrong places, said the wrong things, and worst of all let just anyone into the kingdom. Jesus scandalized an intimidating, elitist, country club religion by opening membership in the spiritual life to those who had been denied it. What made people furious was Jesus' "irresponsible" habit of throwing open the doors of His love to whosoever, the just-any-ones, and the not-a-chancers like you and me"- quoted from the book Messy Spirituality: God's Annoying Love for Imperfect People.

I Am Free to Love!

2010-09-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

Well friends, today or rather yesterday I completed my 30 days of reading through the Bible (this was suppose to be in a Ramadan fashion, but safe to admit I didn't fast properly and didn't get to attend any iftar's with Muslims, bot exactly happy about that, but life goes on).
Anyways, reading through the Word of God is always a journey and new truths speak out every time, this time even more than any other time. Honestly, these lats couple weeks I feel like I have been getting a handle on this whole "Good News" thing. Truthfully, when I ask many (not all) other Christians what the "good news" is that we call "gospel", I don't understand what they see as good news, and I don't think they see it either.
So, really what is the "good news" that Christ came to tell us?
Well let's look back. We know that God instituted the Old Covenant with the Israelite people in order to draw a people unto Himself, who would give Him glory and could have a sample of His presence by following the Law. Only through sacrifice and obedience could God be sought out. Just think of life like that, "touch not, taste not", as we read about the Ark of the Covenant and all these religious themes we can sense the fear the people had of being "cursed by God". The really radical thing that we continually see is that God has always wanted the deeper things such as the heart and love of man rather than simple outward religious faith.
I Samuel 15:22- "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice and to heed is better than the fat of the rams".
I would rather advise you to read the entire chapter of Psalms 51, but I will quote a part of it to illustrate my point. "O Lord open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it, you do not pleasure in burnt offerings, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart (Psalms 51:15-17a)". For more verses read Hosea and Micah.
Do you see it? God does not want the outward stuff, but rather what comes from inside our hearts, and we see Jesus compellingly criticizing the Pharisees of His day concerning these matters. But the Law of the Old Covenant made the outward things necessary!

So then comes this Messiah, the anointed one, who will essentially make "all things new", thus the term "New Covenant". The kingdom (presence) of God and righteousness will no longer need to be a thing sought by men by standards and Law, but rather will "dwell among them". This was a big deal to the 1st Century peoples, especially the religious people. The law of God, or rather the Law of Christ would be written on the hearts of men (Jeremiah 31:33-34, Hebrews 8:6-13 and 10:14-18). What is this law? The law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:21, Galatians 6:2, amongst other verses that illustrate this point).
So as the title of this blog says, "I am free to love!". Come on sing it, you know the song! What exactly does that mean? I am free from having to tell people they are sinners and must live right because by love I can show them the love of Christ and be a light in the midst of darkness. I am free from having to live a partially sanitized life, but rather can serve God through a life of love and service. I am free to live, to truly be in the world not of it, and I mean really live without stressing "is this a sin", "should i be around these people", "should I be in church right now", etc. That my friends, in the glory of the New Covenant that stressed out the religious people in Jesus' day and continues to do so in religious circles today.
Consider the Galatians factor. The church in Galatia had this exact problem, when the religious Jews began to mix with the Gentiles.This religious spirit is clearly called what it is, hypocrisy, because it is against the freedom to love of the Law of Christ. Read Galatians chapter 2:11-21.
"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love (Galatians 5:6)".

Consider the fact that under the Old Covenant Law, even the supposedly righteous religious leaders committed sins against the rules, but yet their outward appearance of being holy, gave them a false sense of righteousness ("I'm better than you"), but it was exactly that FALSE! Christ brought the reality of the Law which was recognizing that even though we are sinners, through love (Christ's law) we can seek His kingdom and His righteousness.

Truly understanding this new, alternative, radical, revolutionary change that Jesus Christ brought into affect is what makes a believer "freak out". Jesus Christ presented the Jews of His time and us today with a new opportunity to experience God. Consider the recent religious cliche' of "It's not about religion, but relationship". Very true!

"But thanks be to Gold, who always leads us through triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing (2 Corinthians 2:14-15)".

I urge you my fellow believers, seek to truly live and read the Word of God through New Covenant Eyes (for more info, check out newcovenanteyes.com)

All for the sake of righteousness, peace, and joy,
Mike Miano

The Latest- Freaked Out News

2010-08-31T06:51:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. Well, it has been a couple weeks so I felt it necessary to post some thoughts. Also, considering that Freaked-Out Fellowship is in "labor pains" right about (getting ready to re-launch the ministry), I also felt compelled to give some insight into how that is going.

Well for starters something I have really wanted to vent about was the affect the Blue Man Group had on me. Gabriella and I had a weekend together (last weekend) and we went to he Holy Land Experience and The Blue Man Group @ Universal Studios. Now I personally was not a fan of the Holy Land Experience because it was very commercial. I am a fan of the concept that Jesus would hate commercial Christianity! Anyways, The Blue Man Group has the exact opposite effect.Basically the way that Blue Man Group touched all your senses with their message (which is no message at all but just relax and have a good time and be entertained), is the exact way that the people of God need to touch the world with the message of the Gospel.

I was both encouraged and discouraged the whole time. Encouraged because I have finally seen exactly what is going on in my head concerning "Freaked-Out" methods of reaching people, and discouraged because I can't believe that the Church hasnt put that much energy, creativity, and passion into the message. We must draw our inspiration from the 11 men who followed Christ, and thus draw our passion and imagination from the prophets of Israel. (Remember our 1st series for Freaked-Out Fellowship will be Prophets at the Beach, hopefully launching in September).
Lately, all my thoughts have been to the concept of Freaked-Out Fellowship (I would imagine it being because I am a freaked-out follower of Jesus and want others to journey this exciting road with me). Gabriella even confirmed this last night when she said "You get inspired by everything for ministry", awesome, isnt that they way it is suppose to be?

Ok, so where do we stand. Freaked-Out Fellowship is still is recruitment stage, looking for a minimum of 2 more local Jesus Freaks, Are you one? I am currently working on a membership concept which will explain what it means and the commitment I am looking for (or better said the commitment He is looking for). In a couple days I will be posting my letter to the Church which will explain some of the insight of a Jesus Freak.

Also, feel obligated to visit the webpage- http://www.freakedoutfellowship.weebly.com
Well, just wanted to share some thoughts and will be posting alot more in the coming days!

Love and Truth- The marks of Life,
Mike Miano

Ramadan- A Christian Renewal Exercise

2010-08-11T14:16:00.000-07:00

Hey, sorry for the inconvienence but since my blog is acting up and not allowing me to post as usual, please visit the following link...
http://apps.facebook.com/theblog/view/38901?ref=mf

Decisions..Decisions....A New Covenant Life

2010-08-09T14:11:00.000-07:00

Greetings in Christ. As of now many have probably already heard the situation that occurred between Gabriella and I yesterday. For the confused, upset, and indifferent minds, I right this blog to explain my current understanding and way of looking at things.
Just to give a brief re-cap, Gabriella and I got into an argument about my actions that seemingly led to me being labeled a "cheater". All of this came from a situation that was blown out of proportion on her part, and poorly managed on mine. It resulted in a bit of craziness and facebook confusion to say the least.
So whats going on? Well, I am in love with Gabriella and many who are reading this have been involved in the conversations that I express this over and over, so bear with me. We have had our ups and downs through our almost 4 year relationship, been through many discussions with others, and have been labeled "un-equally yoked", "fornicators", etc... In any relationship this would be chaotic, so it has played a toll on ours.
Obviously, now is a time of decisions. Is this relationship healthy, is it going to work, can we somehow get over this, etc.. I clearly understand that these things need to be thought about, discussed, prayed about, and acted on. But what I would like to express is a clearly cohesive decision-making understanding of the New Covenant given to us through Christ Jesus.
Many people will say, "God wants you to do this...", "God made this happen for a reason", "God is telling you...", etc..and thinking through this way of thinking has spurred me to disagree. The New Covenant put an end to the "old order of things (Revelation 21:4 )". Jesus Christ has given us a way of freedom to truly freely choose what we would like to make of our lives, I don't have to wonder in fear if this relationship will keep me out of heaven or even pray for hours about God revealing a special truth to me concerning Gabriella and I. That is the blessing and the curse of the New Covenant, you are truly free to do what you want with your life and accept the consequences as they may be. We need to stop putting God into a situations He has not put Himself in. Yes, God is Sovereign over everything and that is understood from the outset, but God is not making things happen in Gabriella and my relationship, it is simply the nature of things. I value practical advice and I guess that somewhat attributes to my understanding of Christ Jesus and the ways that pleases Him.
Basically, the decision making process I propose is that we have the freedom to choose to do whatever we want with our lives- that essentially is the New Covenant. With that blessing of freedom comes the fact that our decisions will ultimately lead to consequences that none other then ourselves have brought to fruition. I don't have to fear that I am walking out of God's will either way I make the decision and that goes for most decisions, but I can trust that the divine nature of things will work that way.
What is God telling me? Well, as Hebrews chapter 1 explains that God now speaks to us through His Son, Jesus Christ which we understand to be the Word of God (John chapter 1). I am not in the Bible, but God's divine truth guides my decisions and will produce the fruit in my life that needs to be there as long as I persevere and continue to:
"Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness....(Matthew 6:33)".
Please continue to keep these matters in prayer and that I may find rest in His presence.
In Christ, seeking blessings,
Mike Miano

The Threat of Islam?!?!?!?

2010-08-08T05:53:00.000-07:00

First I would like to start out my greeting all my readers, it has been a while, but as many of you may know I have been busy, busy, busy with raising funds for Israel (which is very much still needed - http://www.riskybusinessforChrist.weebly.com), re-launching new ideas for Freaked-Out Fellowship, living the ups and downs of being in love with a beautiful woman, and being involved in an awesome local expression of the body of Christ (Messiahreformed.com).
` So what did you think of the title? Great! I would like to start out by defining IGNORANCE. Ignorance is the state or fact of being ignorant; lack of knowledge, education, or awareness. We see this very much in common conversation these days, when people speak on matters they don't know much about. If you read through the book of Proverbs this topic is addressed very much and thus is why as people of God we are told to watch our tongue, or just simply don't speak all that much.
The topic of Islam has always been of interest to me. Before I had come to Christ, I studied Islam under a Shiite imam, and was fascinated and still somewhat am with the devotion to Arab culture. Obviously through studies I have come to believe that Islam is false, and that Christ is the Son of God.
The way many Christians have gone about the discussion of Islam has always bothered me. I remember when I first came to Christ and would foster discussion with Muslims, I would always hear Christians have an issue with me saying allah as a term for God (allah means God in Arabic, even Arab Christians use the term), or say "be careful when reading the Quran". My immediate response to these issues has always been to question the foundation of Christian in these peoples minds, why would we as Christians be so scared of false doctrine, when our doctrine is so clear and true? I still to this day don't understand how many can have a flimsy foundation in Christ (Matthew 7:20-27).
I read and see many Christian books, movies, and discussions that speak against this scary demon of Islam and the threat they pose to us as Christians. This is just ludicrous. Islam is as false as any other religion or ideology that fails to see the truth in Christ Jesus (read through 1 and 2 Epistles of John). That would go for Jews, Buddists, Atheists, and the like. We can not be hypocritical in our approach of truth especially when we are suppose to be people marked by truth and love.
Another good example would be my up and coming renewal fast that I am participating in for Ramadan. Now Ramadan is an Islamic festival of fasting, prayer, alms giving, and study. Muslims believe that Ramadan (which will be August 11 to September 9 of 2010) is the time that the Quran was revealed to the prophet Muhammad. I do not believe that the Quran is a holy text or the prophet Muhammad proclaimed the truth of Christ but I see opportunity for a unifying factor and a time of renewal for myself and all who choose to participate. What would Jesus do? Many Christians are seemingly troubled by this idea as you can see by reading about the participation in Ramadan by Brian McLaren and other Christians he congregates with. Why not create a unifying factor with Muslims? I would love to explain more about what my Renewal and Study festival will be like.
Of, so this brings me to the reason for this blog. Just days ago I heard that "they are trying to build a mosque at Ground Zero", and the response isn't that great from many people, especially Christians. I thought the immediate aggravation I was seeing from people was crazy and decided to do some studying (Gabriella and I like to have these conversations, so always researching). As a former 9-11 Truther and being very involved into the studies around September 11, 2001, I have a heart for this topic just as I do Islam. After researching I have realized that this was once again a hyped up issue and still is, and many people are mis-informed. The Cordoba Initiative is looking to build a cultural center with emphasis on better Muslim-West relations, that does not sound like a mosque to me! The idea sounds great and would foster much needed discussion and also help the healing process and blame many have put on Islam as a religion. You can read about it here- http://www.cordobainitiative.org/?q=content/cordoba-house-new-york-city.
As Christians, we need to really develop a loving conduct for both people and truth, they are intertwined, so we must develop both. Believe it or not, in both the Bible and the Quran, Christians are marked as people devoted to love and truth, do we really live up to that title? I did some reading this morning into Muslim-Christian relations in history and you may find it quite interesting, here is the link- http://www.soundvision.com/Info/jesus/MuslimChristianRelations.asp.
Thanks for reading and I hope this fosters great discussion and study.
With love for Truth and people, in Christ Jesus,
Michael Miano
http://www.freakedoutfellowship.weebly.com

Re-Jesus: The Missional Church PART 2

2010-06-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we ended yesterday’s post on ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church rather abruptly and I had a lot more to say.

Entering into the last couple chapters which focused on ReJesusing the organization we have come to call church, and we must ask ourselves, “Is this really what Jesus intended for His movement”?

A good equation for us to consider is
Christianity- Christ= Religion.

A great sociological explanation into what we are experiencing in the Church is a problem with routinization of charisma. This means that it is hard to channel the Charisma that Jesus Christ ushered into the movement we call- Christianity. Do I hear someone saying, “Lack of Spirit”? This is more the reason we must ReJesus, and re-encounter Christ daily. The comparison of Christ to the manna of the Israelites was a “fresh one”. It must be renewed daily.

It’s interesting to note, that I have had these conversations with many people, basically, what was Jesus Christ trying to do? It also implies who He was. I see the Jesus Christ in the gospels, gathering a group of men around this hope that once the Old Covenant was fulfilled, and the Messiah ushers in the New Covenant, it will be an end of the world as they knew it. This good news produced such an excitement and controversy, which “turned the world upside-down. Many people seem to differ on what Jesus Christ was doing, which affects what we believe He is doing today. Way of life (life in New Covenant)- Religion (Old Covenant).

Christianity = the anti-religion!!!! But rather, “a radically alternative vision of the world and thus initiates an ensuing mission to change the world in order to fulfill that vision”.

A great quote, which is pretty much my testimony, was said in the book and I will hold on it forever!!! “…the strange and wonderful God-man has invaded our life with purpose and freshness”. Is that the Messiah you follow?

Now, the term RADICAL TRADITIONALISM, struck a strong chord in my mind, pretty much to the point of me trying to incorporate that term into the mission statement of Freaked-Out Fellowship. Radical Traditionalism is exactly where I am at in my walk with Christ, which is to return to the original way of Christ, but express it in our day. Terms like 21st Century Apostles, or even New Monasticism, are examples of radical traditionalism.

A big issue I see in most traditional churches today is the lack of mission. The lack of a common cause will mobilize no one. We must unite under a common cause, and be mobilized by it. That is what we see Jesus Christ doing with the apostles in the Word of God. I have spoken about this time and time again; my favorite passage in Matthew is Matthew chapter10, where we see Jesus sending out the apostles. How much better is our worship, services, fellowship, and reason for being when we are on mission??? My concern is how can we say that we have experienced the truth of the gospel or understand it, because mission is simply the outward impulse of the effects the gospel has on us as God’s people. Judge the tree by the fruit it bears??

So, with all of that said, let me conclude with the invite, are you ready to be involved in a radical movement, “the conspiracy of little Jesus’, why don’t you be the one to ignite a fire (figuratively) in your area, let’s go!!!

“If passion is eliminated, faith no longer exists”.

Love you all more and more, by the goodness and grace of Jesus Christ,

Michael Miano

ReJesus - The Missional Church

2010-06-08T09:53:00.001-07:00

I just finished reading ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, and I have to say it might just be another huge factor in my growth. The book has come at a pivotal part of my growth in life (Isn’t it awesome how God orchestrates things?).
Well, let me start with a personal point. When I first came to Christ, I was sent out and equipped to be a radical. Besides the fact that I was in a prison yard where Muslims, atheists, and agnostics ran rampant, brother Paul also let me know from the 1st moment I chose to follow Christ Jesus, that I was called and sent out to be an ambassador.
As of the latest development in my Christian walk, I have learned how to read the Bible in a way that makes perfect sense, truly in context. This has led me to embrace the Preterist doctrine. To be a little critical of what I have seen within some Preterist circles, I see a need to re-connect to the missional Messiah. Therefore, this awesome book could have come at no better a time.
The book starts with a great analogy. When a computer needs to be re-booted, it requires a complete do-over, and must go back to the beginning basic functions. Basically, in order to re-Jesus, we must go back to the basics (do I hear a call for Matthew chapters 5-7 anywhere? (smiles)).
A great quote which is so true in all areas of life and I couldn’t have said it better was: “Jesus is the center of all, the object of all, whoever does not know Him, knows nothing aright, either of the world or of himself” (Blasé Pascal). I can testify to that because before I came to the saving knowledge of Christ, life just didn’t seem to make much sense, but know as a Christian, every day I try to figure out how can the world make sense to those who are stuck in it????
The book goes on to remind us of who Jesus Christ is in the gospels, without us fashioning Him into our images (they even showed pictures of different “Jesus’, and quotes from the movie Talladega Nights, ha ha “Jesus is not a baby anymore!!”.).
“There is no doubt that we face a SPIRITUAL, THEOLOGICAL, MISSIONAL, AND EXISTENTIAL CRISIS in the West”. Anyone disagree? Consider the million and one denominations, why??? Consider the loss of the radical rabbi/ messiah Jesus Christ.
Another astonishing fact about the book was that the authors mixed many of the different mentors/ authors and concepts that I have been admiring a lot lately. For example Shane Claiborne, Erwin McManus, Walter Bruggerman “prophetic imagination”, and some others. I do not consider it a coincidence that these are all linked minds; rather I believe we are onto something here my friends.
“The conspiracy of little Jesus’”- I have come to adore that term, because that’s exactly what Christianity should be called. That’s exactly what I had in mind when the vision for Freaked-Out Fellowship came into play. Just picture it, little Jesus’ all around, everywhere in our neighborhoods starting little revolutions in public and in private lives. The comparison to V for Vendetta was good as well.
I enjoyed the motto of the 3 Latin terms, imago Dei, participate Christo, and mission Dei. = could be said to be the essence of Christianity.
Quoting from Robert McAfree Brown, “Our task is to create foretastes of the Kingdom of God on this planet-living glimpse of what life is meant to be…” Great quote, although as a preterist, I believe we are living in the kingdom of God, which means to presents of the living God with us now, and a fulfilled Old Covenant. Our fulfilled hope is a reality that Christ is ever present with us, and we can live in His presence without priests or artifacts.
Imago Dei, was brought to a new vision for me, especially as an evangelist. Considering that we are all made in the image of God, and some have allowed that to fade by letting this world captivate them, our goal is to identify the image of the Creator in all people, and tease it out. Wow! Talk about being on mission! “I desire to be the man who restores these lost children to God”!
As I read through the book and considered the quote “God is the one who conquers…by capturing the imagination…” I thought about how God has gifted me with a vast imagination. Considering the New Monastic adventures, cross-carrying, sackcloth, denominational studies, etc- these have all been ReJesus moments in my life. That is what we need, constant renewal to the reality of Jesus Christ. Pretty much, a renewal of discipleship, and an enactment of 21st century apostles (Acting Out ACTS anyone?).
The book goes on to direct attention at the institutional church, and how scary it must be to go back to Jesus Christ. The founder of this entire revolution. A lot must change and it is much noticeable that many church leaders will not want to go back to the original because they fear “the whole edifice might crumble”. Well, I guess that battle is are you following Christ or not???
Well, I think that is enough. Honestly, these are only half of my notes from the book. Yes, they and I have that much to say. But maybe another blog soon or contact me and we can talk. My goal is not to write about it, but rather to begin the “conspiracy of little Jesus’, locally and abroad!
Love you all, thanks for reading this lengthy blog!
God bless, through the mighty blood of Christ Jesus,
Michael Miano
PS- please consider supporting my trip to Israel/ Palestine
http://www.riskybusinessforchrist.weebly.com

Life as a Pilgrim

2010-05-24T14:56:00.000-07:00

Well, this Sunday was a blessing. Annie, my co-conspirator in “turning the world upside-down”, and I went and did some open air readings from the Word of God, and had good discussion time- that’s what I call Church! The night before, I did some studying and really going through my mind and heart, and couldn’t get the topic of “pilgrim” out of my mind (this may have had a lot to do with my reading the Pilgrim’s Progress by Paul Bunyan earlier in the week).
So, I did as I usually do and researched. Conspire magazine is now online (http://www.conspiremagazine.com/) and sure enough this month’s topic was Pilgrimage. Wow!
A Pilgrim is described as someone who is in search of home. This caused me to think a bit, first off we know that the Word describes our home as a heavenly one (Hebrews chapters 11-13), also we are told to live as pilgrims.
So with that said, I began to dig a bit deeper. What really are we in search of? “Seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew chapter 5)”. Psalms 84:5- says that blessed is him whose heart is set on pilgrimage. Well, since I am not on pilgrimage for Jerusalem or Mecca, what really should be captivating me?
Our heavenly city as described in the book of Revelation is the presence of God. The presence of God is the kingdom of God. In Hebrews we read that the saints endured all kinds of torture to obtain and invite others; to this new city, thus the presence of God.
Being me, and being critical of all things, I still wanted to dig a bit deeper. How can I express this is my life, how can I explain and be an ambassador of this kingdom, if I don’t know the characteristics and how to define it??
LOVE, DYING TO SELF, RESTORATION, RENEWAL, REVIVAL, PASSION (PURPOSE), IDENTITY. – Characteristics of the kingdom of God!
Reading through Shane Claiborne’s book- Jesus for President (an awesome depiction of what life is like in the kingdom of God); I was loving the chapter titled: A Peculiar Party. He said, “we need to be about discovering lost relatives and forgotten ancestors”.
I thought that made a great point. As Christians we need to realize that we must begin to explain and re-iterate the kingdom of God properly. In our society, what do most conversations consist of- family, friends, activities, views, …that’s pretty much it. So how do we explain or world?
THE SAME WAY! Tell about our family in Christ, our holy days, our activities, etc…
This just once again puts into thought my vision of Christians as master storytellers, just like our Savior.
Let our pilgrimage be expressions of His presence.

Some thoughts...

2010-05-13T08:20:00.001-07:00

Well, I really enjoyed last week’s blog, so it was hard for me to want to write another one. I figured, if I had one thing to say to the world or even more so to the Body of Christ, it would be to exercise prophetic imagination, so why continue???
Well, I am learning over and over that life is a journey of learning, and I guess that is what makes is exciting. Once we stop learning or think we got it all together, we are doomed.
So the reading I have just finished was my pastor’s book – Reading the Bible with New Covenant Eyes (author- Alan Bondar). This was a great read, and provided much insight into my latest doctrine framework of – Full Preterism.
I wanted to share some thoughts………
A great analogy that Alan used in the book was the story of Galileo Galilee. If you are not too familiar with that name I will explain a bit. Now Galileo was a “scientist” who proposed a new finding about the way we looked at the universe. In the 1600’s it was assumed that the sun stars, etc revolved around the earth (Ptolemaic theory of geocentrism). What Galileo proposed was the heliocentric theory of Copernicus, which said that everything revolved around the sun. Well this was heresy, in science and church, IT CONTRADICTED THE BIBLE!! Or did it????
One part I found quite amusing (oh and yes, I went and looked it up after Alan mentioned it; you all should know me by now!!).I was amused by the fact that some scientists wouldn’t even consider looking through the telescope at his findings, oh Lord how stubborn we are. I truly do believe that once we think we got it all together, we have dumbed ourselves down.
Now why am I ranting about this?? Well, that situation is a lot of how we approach Biblical doctrine. We fail to look through the telescope at views that could very well be right, but we feel we got it all together. Where is the humility??
I would strongly urge all to pick up a copy of Alan’s book and read it, yes you can read it with critical eyes, I am sure Alan would approve, but in the end – the earth will revolve around the sun. 
Also, as I have been delving into a full preterist understanding, I am realizing how much the prophetic imagination is needed. Since our hope has been fulfilled, and we are surrounded by a world living in desperation, how do we spread this hope? We all know what the Word of God says about hope deferred don’t we? Well how can we help a lost world understand that hope is PRESENT?? = PROPHETIC IMAGINATION!!!
“a very dangerous thing, likely not only to irritate all scholastic philosophers and theologians, but also to harm the Holy Faith by rendering Scripture false”. – Oh boy, we need not be as “stubborn as an asp”.
In love and joy- of a fulfilled hope,
Michael Miano

Exercise: Prophetic Imagination

2010-04-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

As a Jesus Freak, I think using our “prophetic imagination” is vital. I read Shane Claiborne’s book- Jesus for President, and the way he described how various Christians and communities are using this gifting, inspired me! Learning and understanding the “prophetic imagination” confirmed what was going on within my Spirit, and helped me better explain what I feel called to do.
Anyways, I just finished reading The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann. A great read!
To give a quick definition of what I understand the prophetic imagination to be, it is simply, using our minds to express the message that burns within us the same way the prophets of old did. Consider Isaiah walking naked to prophesy against Egypt (Isaiah chapter 20), Ezekiel cooked with human feces to display a message, and even our Messiah ransacked the temple which was being abused...Why? To get the message across!
“Concrete, passionate, and imaginative, prophetic in its form, prophetic speech is nonetheless “a sharp sword”, conveying a vision “designed to shock rather than edify”. Moderation is a delusion, and only extremists are in touch with reality”. Wow that puts things quote bold, I mean truly though, How much does this message (the Gospel) burden you or even more just fill you with so much joy you cannot help but be “freaked-out”??
Here goes a quote that confirms me (laughs) “...prophetic must be imaginative because it is urgently out beyond the ordinary and reasonable”.
Church- “…a community of peculiar discourse with practices of memory, hope, and pain that keep healthy human life available in the face of all the “virtual reality” now on offer in dominant culture”.
REALLY, WHAT WERE THE PROPHETS UP TO???
“The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture”. - Prophetic imagination isn’t about specific issues but more so the awakening of the people of Christ to WAKE UP.We have become way too domesticated. CALLED TO- CRITICIZE THE CONCIOUSNESS, AND ENERGIZE THE PEOPLE!!!(We have eternal life and even more, the presence of God).
“…assault of the consciousness of the empire, aimed at NOTHING LESS THAN THE DISMANTLING OF THE EMPIRE BOTH IN ITS SOCIAL PRACTICES AND ITS MYTHIC PRETENSIONS”.
WOW, SOCIAL PRACTICES……MYTHIC PRETENSIONS…
To energize is to provide hope, look at the old covenant and then look at what the new covenant through Christ Jesus offers. Do I need to energize us at all? What is our hope in?
Even as I read through my notes, I am being energized by the radical way of Jesus Christ. Is that what we exhibit? The book continually terms it “alternative”; I sit and think, what alternative are we offering to the world? What do they see through us, the body of Christ?
The book says it well; anyone that knows me knows that I am a bit of a rebel. I love the word and anything associated with it. A good point the book makes though, is that we are not going against any certain thing, but rather the false consciousness that is being given by dominant society (and I hate to break it to many, but that could even mean mainstream church, yes I said it).
A good contrast the book makes is between the Solomonic transformation if Israel and similarly how we can see it through the Constantine rule of the church. We have been watered down! Yes, I’m yelling it, can you hear me??
Criticize present= energized future!
“…imagination is danger. Thus every totalitarian regime is frightened of the artist. It is the vocation of the prophet to keep alive the ministry of imagination”. ATTENTION FELLOW MINISTRY LEADERS!!! WE WONDER WHY PEOPLE ARE NOT DOING MINISTRY, OR ARENT LEAVING THE PEWS DOING ANYTHING. WE MUST TEACH THEM- IMAGINE AND ARTICULATE!!
“…where passion disappears there will not be any serious humanizing energy”.
“What a commission it is to express a future that none think imaginable”- the call of a Christian! I am not of this world, with my God, all things are possible!
“The actions of Jesus are a scandal, for they violate propriety, reason, and good public order”- Make a Scene for the Lord!!!
A NEW POSSIBILITY- “The alternative community is to be shaped from the poor, hungry, and grieving is called to DISENGAGE FROM THE WOE PATTERN OF LIFE to end that other ordering, and TO EMBRACE THE BLESSING PATTERN”.
Our hope? The use of our imaginative consciousness, energy, and passion to “turn this world upside-down”, this makes all things possible, a whole new way to the obvious misery and incompleteness of the things of this world.
Well thanks for reading through this. Now if you ever have any questions about me, Michael Miano or Freaked-Out Fellowship, you can refer to this post. Well explained. Also, I would once again like to make mention of Shane Claiborne’s book – Jesus for President! A great example of prophetic imagination.
With knowledge of Him, and passion in pursuit of Him,
Michael Miano
http://www.freakedoutfellowship.weebly.com

A Preterist??

2010-04-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

As of last week, Freaked-Out Fellowship became a ministry within Messiah Reformed Church. Messiah Reformed Church (http://www.messiahreformed.com) is a reformed preterist church led by pastor Alan Bondar. That is basically to say that the church is sola-scriptura (scripture-alone) and believes in past fulfillment of all the Biblical prophecies. Yes, including the second coming of Jesus Christ in 70 A.D.
This is likely to cause a stir, therefore I would like to explain a bit of how I have come to a preterist understanding.
I met pastor Alan Bondar about 6-7 months ago in a casual encounter at the mall. We talked and became friends, eventually he explained his understanding of Christianity, and YES, I thought he was crazy. My goal from there on out was to prove that his loony view that Jesus Christ had come back was crazy and without scriptural proof.
Our beginning conversations began with Alan asking me what do I believe happens to us when we die. I realized that I had a view but wasn’t really sure on the scripture basis, therefore this sent me for my first of many dives into the Word to figure out the scriptures that shape my understanding. After asking many pastoral church leaders, and searching for answers (like the Bereans) I came to a soul sleep view, somewhat similar to Hades. I will not go into much detail here but if you are interested in that study let me know.
AS I began to meet with Alan, and eventually visit his church, I began to “read the Bible through new covenant eyes” (also the title of Alan Bondar’s new book). I realized that there are many scriptures in the Word of God that have been unanswered for me and also glazed over in most “context” churches. Also, Biblical interpretation is an issue, and audience relevancy is a serious matter in Biblical Hermeneutics. The Biblical letters and writings were written for a certain people in a certain time (that is context!!), yet it is “for teaching, for conviction, for setting aright, for instruction that is in righteousness”.
AS of lately, just wresting through scriptures I have asked some friends for their opinions, and a re-occuring theme is “why does it matter”. Well, I know there are many churches out there that treat eschatology (end-times) as just an add on factor of our faith, but that is crazy! Does Truth matter? If the estimates of 2/3 of the Bible is prophecy concerning end-times I would say it definetly does matter. Lately, I have realized that our salvation is dependant upon escatology. How much salvation do you have? What is your understanding of the “presence of God”? These things matter! Also, who is Israel (which always seems to open the floor for debate)? What is the kingdom of God?
As far as Freaked-Out Fellowship, we will not change our focus. As far as spreading the gospel through prophetic imagination, the understanding of a preterist worldview actually makes our hope that much stronger. A proper understanding of salvation and the promises of our awesome God, makes being “freaked-out” that much more easies, and Spirit-led.
Here is the mission statement of Messiah Reformed Church- “Messiah Reformed Church exists to glorify God
by pursuing and sharing our joy through the knowledge of Him.”

Combining that with the motto of Freaked-Out Fellowship, “turning the world upside-down”, makes perfect sense. Why? It is our understanding of Jesus Christ and what He did for us, that gives us a joy worth sharing (Good News).
I can imagine that most people will have questions and concerns, and I would love to dicuss these things with you in much more detail, so please feel free to email or call me.
In His service, by His love,
Michael Miano
The time is near ; Yes I am coming soon ... Revelation 22:10-12

A Month of Monasticism

2010-03-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I know the month is not quite over yet but I chose to tell you about my “monk experience” for the month of March a bit early (plus I know some people who are interested in hearing my summed up views from the New Monastic Schools for Conversion).
To briefly explain my monthly endeavor, I experimented with monasticism both ancient and new. Ancient monasticism is the retreat of dedicated men of God for prayer and solitude. I came under the authority of the Rule of Monk Preston from The Knights of Prayer, Prayer Foundation. Obviously, monasticism is centered on prayer. The basic concept would be scripture memorization and recitation, prayer, and structured daily routine (which includes the divine hours and work).
At the start, I was excited for this structure and routine, pretty much anticipated the challenge (and yes, I looked forward to the outfit that I had to wear “a habit”.) Honestly, the overall idea I had in my mind didn’t work out the way I had anticipated, as a man of God with the heart of an evangelist, I wanted to do more outreach as a monk, so that was a bit of the disappointment (but fair to say it came with a lesson, doesn’t it always?).
Ok, so I traveled as a monk to Evanston Ill., to attend the Schools for Conversion conference at Reba Place Fellowship. Exciting trip to say in the least.
Now I will tell you about my time at the conference. Reba Place fellowship has a lot of rich history, and has been around since the 50’s. The overall concept of New Monasticism is to live in community, pretty much to experiment with what we read from the book of Acts. It is hard to sum up what I learned from this experience, since it had a big impact of my thoughts of New Monasticism and my personal walk with Christ.
In order to keep this short, I am not going to write detail by detail concerning the visit to Reba Place Fellowship, if you want to know my details ask. My goal is to express what I learned.
As far as what I expected from my visit to Reba Place Fellowship, I cannot seem to clearly reiterate but admittedly it was not was I had expected. When I arrived an older man from Reba Place and I had a great conversation, that would inevitable help me grow and affect my views of things. He said in paraphrase “we have to be careful of our ideals, it seems that idealism is taking a big place and that is not what this is about, and ultimately this will lead to disappointment”. That was so true! As we read through the 12 Marks of New Monasticism and discussed different views of Christianity as a way of life (ex. - You Must Be Born Again…and Again and Again) I remember reading a part that talked about the ideals that fail us. The direct quote that convicted me was, “…what would have been different if your primary commitment had been to love the people in the place where you worshipped”. That made me think, how many times have my personal ideals about what we should be doing as the church, or what the church should look like, how many times have these affected the love I have been commanded to have for my brothers and sisters, my neighbor, or even my enemy? As Dietrich Bonheoffer said “The greatest enemy to community is our ideal of community”.
Also, a big factor of New Monasticism is to live in close proximity to others within the body of Christ, at least local congregations. I had agreed wholeheartedly with that concept and still do, but after thinking about it as I was in the community, I realized that the bond I have with some people who I meet with weekly or bi-weekly, is community. We don’t have to necessarily live together or even on the same block. So, Gabriella can rest at ease that I am not going to ask her to move in with 3 other families right away (ha ha, maybe not yet at least).
A great factor of Reba Place Fellowship was the diversity in the people, both young and old, male, female, and many different personalities. Also, what has been termed “theological diversity” was very active. From Episcopalians to Mennonites, to radicals to reformed tradition which was awesome and truly demonstrated the culture of love and grace, that New Monasticism, or rather Jesus Christ represents.
Well, my overall thought was the missional concept though. I didn’t really feel the missional, evangelistic attitude was that prevalent at Reba Place Fellowship. I am not sure if that is such a theme in the New Monasticism view, but I felt that things should be much more missional. Reading through Shane Claiborne’s book, The Irresistible Revolution, I got the feeling he was very missional in his attitude, but I am aware of his view of “come and see”. It is my hope that the views of New Monasticism become very strong in my generation, but also with a spice of the missional church views.
That pretty much summed up my thoughts. Also, I would like to share a brief journal entry I wrote as I left Reba Place Fellowship.
“3/22/10- Today, I am leaving Reba Place Fellowship, Schools for Conversion. I guess I did go with some expectations that I did not find. I find myself in a sort of negative funk today. Like, “what is this all about? What am I doing?”
Since January I have been going through my experiments in truth (**currently reading the Autobiography of Mohandas Gandhi, who was the master at this concept). This month has been a study into monasticism (both old and new).
As I was walking and thinking, I just began to ask myself, “Who am I, what does God want me to do, etc”. (You know the “seasonal” self examination).
STAND-STILL (“I am at a standstill) has been on my mind lately. Praying over that line as I walked, I heard that low whisper “be still and know that I am God”. Also, other things that have popped into mind are:
-What P.A. told me about just being Mike, the outreach guy who relates to people
- Future with Gabriella (some normalcy to my life).
-Missionary (we are all missionaries, but in the strongest sense, is that me?)
-Pastoral calling
-Starbucks meetings with Annie.
-Jesus People USA
So therefore, what is my next season?"

Thanks for reading. Hope it was a blessing! Look forward to your feedback!
Love and blessings, for the glory of Him,
Michael Miano

Contemptus Mundi

2010-03-15T15:24:00.000-07:00

For the month of March I have been studying Monasticism. I have committed myself to dressing like a monk, praying like a monk (which is very extensive and hard to follow rigidly), and studying a lot about monasticism. Besides the fact that I will have the opportunity to visit a New Monastic environment in 2 days called Reba Place Fellowship. I have also been reading through a book called The Little Flowers of Saint Francis. The aforementioned book was written in Italian by companions of St. Francis of Assisi, and then translated into English by Raphael Brown.
The book had provided many insights into both modern and monastic life. My most meaningful message from the book is summed up in the Latin words “Contemptus Mundi”. Contemptus mundi means contempt for the world. I am a firm believer and man of understanding as far as this concept and the futility of worldly things. If I had one message for the world it would be contemptus mundi.
Jesus Christ, whom St. Francis, his followers, and I are seeking to follow was quite simple. He showed that the “abundant life” can be found by returning to the ways of the Father and following His example. This is put into practice by St. Francis and his followers (the Franciscans) by obeying 3 simple rules from the outset.
“If you wish to be perfect, go, and sell all you have, and give to the poor, and come and follow me” – words of Jesus Christ
“Take nothing for your journey, neither staff, nor wallet, nor bread, nor money” – words of Jesus Christ
“If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” – words of Jesus Christ
The three quotes by the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ sum up the simple life that leads to abundant life.
When contemplating about the concept of contemptus mundi, I am led to think of the parable of the lost son. The story goes that a young son of a man asks his father for his inheritance and leaves his father’s house and goes and spends the money living a lavishly wild lifestyle. Finally at the end of the inheritance money, the son ends up feeding the pigs for a local neighbor. As the man thinks of his current circumstance as he is feeding the pigs, he decides to go back to his father’s house and beg forgiveness. The father welcomes him home not only forgiving him but excited that he has come back home.
How many of us, in the 21st Century, are stuck “feeding the pigs” as we chase after things of this world? Contemptus mundi is the answer to the ills that plague our lives.

All Ye Heretic's

2010-03-04T14:59:00.000-08:00

“…the truth of the matter is that they are outside the Church of Christ”.

Well, it’s the beginning of March, and might I say, “Thank God”. I have completed my month of experimenting orthodox Christianity.
Consider the title and the quote I provided, that pretty much sums up my view of orthodox Christianity. I took the time to read a book, written by a Baptist become Orthodox (The Way: What Every Protestant Should Know About the Orthodox Church by Clark Carlon). The book interesting and I had a couple underlines and side notes, but honestly, if I had to made a direct statement concerning my understanding of the orthodox denomination, it would be pompous. Yes, I said it.
Basically, the orthodox view is that everyone else is heretics. I understand that Jesus Christ did make it very clear that Christianity was a narrow way, and that it is only through Him that we get to the Father, but I feel that the orthodox use this way too much to propose their way as the right way.
We must also consider the fact that when the disciples came back to Christ to tell him about others who were casting out demons and healing people, “in His name”, Jesus Christ did not say they were wrong. What did He say? “Do not stop him (Luke 9:49-50)”. I also find it quite interesting that this passage is involving the pride of the disciples and who would be the greatest.
Orthodox and Catholic Christians are very similar in the traditional sense, which I have come to have a distinct taste for. I understand that there will always be some things we disagree on, but let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water, and find UNITY!
After all, as I stated to a man at the bank yesterday when speaking about the Church, “it’s all about serving and bringing glory to our Lord Jesus Christ, we need to seek to exhibit the unity that was found in the book of Acts, even amidst diversity”.
Also, for my duration of February, in the orthodox tradition the komboskini (prayer rope) is similar to the catholic rosary, yet much more humble. All you have to do is constantly recite, “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner”. Unfortunately, I did not feel the accountability that I needed with that routine. I had only attended Orthodox Church once in the entire month (I know, I know, shame on me).
One great educational resource I did take advantage of and enjoyed was the podcast called Ancient Faith. http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts . I learned about a radical monk named Rev. A.N. Experidon aka “The Bulgarian Monk” who was an encouragement to my radical, seemingly un-orthodox ways.
This month, monasticism. Yes, definitely a discussion and blog worth looking forward to!

Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living”. Surely the same is true of one’s faith, yet the vast majority of Christians- in America at any rate- never take time to examine their faith seriously, to understand why they believe what they believe and how that affects-or should affect-their lives” – excerpt from the book mentioned above.

Thanks for reading...look forward to conversation!
God bless in Christ,
Mike Miano

Avatars, Catholics, and the Rosary

2010-02-03T11:35:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know a seemingly odd title for a blog post, but I have my reasons for this update.
First off, Gabriella and I went to see the movie Avatar the other night. Let me say it was awesome. I wasnt too keen on going to see a cartoon type movie, but the movie had such Spiritual and political themes. I learned from a dear brother in the faith, that Avatar is basically embodiment, which if I played Wii or other gaming systems I would know that.
The citizens of Pandora were so creative and imaginative that I envied them - consider the faith and awe they had for their people, land, and mother goddess. I was filled with such awe when the whole community came together and laid hands on Jake to welcome him as a member of their community, it was so beautiful! These people where the Church, standing together in the midst of persecution! I saw so much we as the body of Christ could learn from this movie. The political aspect was defintely the rock that the "militant leaders" wanted to get from other the land of Pandora, sounds oddly familiar to a United States Agenda, doesnt it?
Throughout the whole movie, I just thought and related to the people of Pandora (Yes, even to the point of tears). We need to begin to look through the eyes of those standing in these crisis, (for example, the Native Americans, Iraqi's, Palestinians, etc). Fact of the matter is, as my favorite writer has said, "It is not about issues, but about people".

Well, not to make this too lengthy..For the month of January I delved into an understanding of Catholicism, which will not end with January. I have been praying the rosary (which I would like to say I was faithful every day but I wasnt) and attending Mass (which I only stated faithful 2 out of 4 Sundays). I learned many things from this experience, both to the credit of the Catholic teachings and some to say, Why?
AS far as the "Hail Mary" thing, agreed, I dont fully understand nor believe the whole mother of God thing, but I think God weighs the hearts not our misunderstandings, etc..They are going through the death, burial, and ressuection.
Praying the rosary, was exciting. I started out having to learn long prayers, which became repititious and void at times, but I strived to let the thoughts really sink in. I learned to use the rosary to benefit my personal prayers as I utilized the ACTS method. Sitting in prayer for 45 minutes a day was great, some of the words may be absent minded, but how much did you pray today? Once again, I trust that the Lord weighs the heart (Proverbs 21:2).
I am also looking forward to reading through and studying the Catholic Cathechism, which I wasnt able to do this month. But I trust even as an Orthodox Christian (which is February's study) I will have time to read the Catholic Cathechism.
Truthfully, I learned alot (more than I care to type, ask me about it). I hope that we as the body of Christ continue to learn and use our imagination in the process. To Christ Jesus be the glory!

Ramblings of a Jesus Freak

2010-01-29T19:36:00.000-08:00

The past couple weeks, actually I could even say the beginning of the New Year has been awesome, and AWE in every sense of the word.
Have had plenty of study opportunities, especially with the start of the new group I started called ACTing Out ACTS! Also, have had plenty of speaking engagements which have been both a blessing and trying.
So, the latest message that has been on my mind came from the Acting Out: ACTS study, we read through ACTS 1 and 2. Acts chapter one has always had a serious yet humorous tone to me, since we see the disciples at their lowest point after the crucifixion of Christ, (they are confused and seemingly defeated), then at the greatest point, (in which breeds a different form of confusion).
Acts 1 speaks about the proofs we have of the resurrection and the power we have received as witnesses to proclaim the gospel. But, what is the next action- stupefied! The apostles are depicted as being in so much awe of the ascension that they stand staring into the sky. HELLO! We have proof and power, GO!
Such a message for us in these times as well!
I have just read through Shane Claiborne’s book, The Irresistible Revolution for the 2nd time. Yes, the book is that good. I want to share some thoughts…
We seriously need to “experiment with the gospel”, that is what Shane and his community are trying to do. All of this is in an effort to “question the sanity of the consumer culture, the distorted priorities of the global economy, and the methodology of the welfare state…” It is long over due that we begin “rediscovering the Biblical reversal of our social logic”.
I love how Shane compared the “unbelieving activists” and the “inactive believers”. Oh, how these two disturb me and get me fired up! On one end the unbelieving activist needs to see salvation as saving our souls from sin and that salvation does not end with us, but in turn the inactive believer needs to see that we also need to see salvation as saving the world from this even system and that salvation does begin with us doing something!
“…another world is possible”. Isn’t that the rally call of the gospel? I see the problem as does Shane, that we sit at the foot of the cross, cry, worship, and lay our lives down, but never pick the cross up and follow Christ. Without mission, this doesn’t make much sense. Hypocrisy and millions of other “church issues” come from lacking mission, it simply gets boring!!!
The Word of God must not become stale in our minds and hearts. The minute that the Word is not pushing you to a reckless faith, you need to question your “Christian scholarship”. ..Ha ha shout to to Soren Kieregard.
How about Church by this definition? “A people on the margins giving birth to another way of living, a new community marked by interdependence and sacrificial love”. Yeah, that leaves me speechless too!
Galatians 2:20 becomes to hold a new meaning when we truly understand that seeing Christ through us is important to the lost. As Shane references many times the term “Namaste”, which means “I see God in you”. We need to “spend our lives for others”, or even as the book of Isaiah says “pour out our lives unto death”.
Here is my plea from my heart utilizing the words from Shane’s book:
“The doors of normalcy and conformity are dead. The time has come to give up on the doors and find a window to climb through. It’s a little more dangerous and may get you into some trouble, but it’s a heck of a lot more fun. And the people who have changed the world have always been the risk-takers who climb through windows while the rest of the world just walks in and out of doors…”
“We need converts in the best sense of the word, people who are marked by the renewing of their minds and imaginations, who no longer conform to the pattern that is destroying our world. Otherwise, we have only believers, and believers are a dime a dozen now a days. What the world needs is people who believe so much in another world that they cannot help but begin enacting it now” That’s it, honestly, I can sit and quote the whole book to you, yeah once again, its that good! Let the MUSTARD SEED REVOLUTION begin!!! Note- really read about the significance of the mustard seed, one word, Wow!
So in conclusion, as I said in a message I spoke last night. We need to start being risk takers for the Kingdom of God. We need to storm the gates of hell and save the lost and redeem the world all through and for Christ Jesus. As a new wise friend said to me last night, “we need to set up our tents next to hell, and save souls from the fire”. AMEN
Thanks for reading!

New Years Resolution

2010-01-04T12:43:00.000-08:00

Ok, well it’s the 4th, so therefore it is officially 2010. The weekend is over and now its back to the normal life for 2010. I did some research on New Year’s resolutions and it has been said that 40-45% of Americans make resolutions. If you make a resolution you are more than 10 times more likely to accomplish your goals, than those who fail to make resolutions. Gabriella and I both made signs to put on the wall that list our resolutions (great idea right, ok fine it was her idea!!)
This resolution is my vow to God! In accordance with Psalm 61:8 “Then will I ever sing praise to Your Name and fulfill my vows day after day”.
In 2010 I vow to:
Pursue Righteousness (refer to Matthew 5 and Psalms 119)
Simplify my life
Become a prayer warrior and step my prayer game up (January through March- prayer endeavor, pray the divine hours throughout the year, pray that Psalms, and have more intimate time with the Father)
Love life with Gabriella (live it, love it, and express it)
Live with missional courage and imagination (Acting Out-ACTS, 1st Century Apostle attitude, newsworthy “epic” life, daily ask what God would have me to do)
More relational (spend time with friends actually hanging out rather than meetings and such)
Do P90X with Gabriella (yeah, ask her about that one!!)
Accomplish more Bucket List ideas

These are my vows before you (the reader) and God, in the name of Christ Jesus.
X.) Michael Miano

Also, will be going out today with the endeavor of using the resolution concept to get others to make resolutions and hear the gospel! Pray for Christ to blast His awesome power through 2010!

Also, checkout the latest on Acting Out- ACTS
http://www.weebly.com/weebly/main.php#

End of 2009 Re-cap

2010-01-03T13:41:00.000-08:00

The year 2009, started with plans to start Freaked-Out Fellowship as a ministry endeavor. As I was still working through ideas with the Tribe of Dan Ministry. Looking back at notes from March, my main concern was the strategy and over all idea of the Tribe of Dan. I was beginning to feel as if we were too busy trying to create or build a ministry, when our calling is to DO ministry.
Also, another common theme I see dating back to March 2009, was the search and enhancing of my calling in the Kingdom of God. I had written “Goal- To help people find themselves and express it”. A great impacting throughout those times was the podcasts from Elevation Church.
A Spirit-filled message I received through prayer in April 2009, was “Be prepared for when the blessings come, the vision manifests, because much will be required”. That was an answer to my concerns about my calling, personal ministry work, and even the overall vision. I know the Lord is still at work in me in an effort to build Godly character.
By the end of April 2009, I began to put serious thought into the planning of Freaked-Out Fellowship, and was using Pastor Matt Keller’s book, Up The Middle Church, as a reference guide. A great mentor into my Christian walk was Pastor Alex from First Assembly of God, Fort Myers. He provided so much counseling and discussion time to push me further as a man of God. (I just realized he introduced me to the ministry of Francis Chan, but yet I read Crazy Love before he did, how ironic, ha ha ha).
In May, I had a meeting with pastor Matt Keller from Next Level Church, concerning the start up of Freaked-Out Fellowship. He offered advice into seeking my calling and also gave me the push to start up FOF. Also, Mark Batterson podcast’s were a valuable resource!
In June, I decided to embark on a book of Acts commentary idea. I have to sideline many other Spirit-filled leaders who promise that if you read through the book of Acts as a follower of Christ, you will be renewed, strengthened, and challenged!! I still talk about that journey today, and have my notes listed on the Freaked-Out Fellowship webpage (http://www.freakedoutfellowship.weebly.com).
June 22,2009 I gave my own definition to the term “Jesus Freak”- “let all that is in me out for the glory of God”! woohoo! Glory to God in the highest! Much respect and admiration for DC TALK and Voice of the Martyrs for the music and books. Also, in June thanks to the podcasts by Mark Batterson, I developed my “bucket list”. Still at work, slow and steady. Some things I have fulfilled since making it would be:
Open-Air preaching, Creating a street evangelism team, buy something for a complete stranger, become the guy who will talk to anyone, read through the message Bible (New Testament), eat a meal with the homeless, go to church dressed like a prophet, find and thank a teacher for all that they did for me, try Ezekiel Bread, Preach door to door…To be continued.
As far as those goals I could see myself doing this year:
Visit a monastery, have children (ha ha ha just playing Gabriella, not yet..), preach in prison, pray daily times of prayer, go on a cruise with Gabriella, go to the Holy Land Experience, do a 40 day fast, help and witness Gabriella with a bucket list, witness a NT miracle, attend a leadership conference, take Gabriella on an awesome adventure, raise $ for a charity, run/walk a marathon for a cause, visit a new monastic environment. WISH ME LUCK!!!
My personal mission statement developed as “Creating ( or building up) Jesus Freaks”.
Around the middle of the year, I began to meet with an awesome group of guys to study through the Truth Project. We developed relationships and had conversations that will impact eternity! (Shout out to Rob, Paul, Mark, and Cha, we can include Joe as well!)
Gabriella and I, had an awesome year. We experienced a lot of growth, through times of blessing and times of trial. Many people have posed the concept of marriage to us, and that alone has provided area for growth. We continue on as a happy couple, going through the life in LOVE.
When I first came to Christ, I experienced a lot of dreams. I still have a small journal that I had kept record. As I venture through this years thoughts and notes, I realize I haven’t had too many dream occurrences. October 7, 2009, I left a note concerning a series of dreams I had in response to a prayer of God making clear what I should be doing. 1st dream- Proclaim was the word of the day and I defined it. 2nd dream- I was a witness in a courtroom trial. 3rd dream- woke up and started to get ready 3 hours before I had to, couldn’t stop thinking about urgency. PROCLAIM, WITNESS, URGENCY!
Looking through notes of October and November, I see a common theme. Basically, a discontentment with the state of the Church, and our lack of true follower-ship. A study into New Monasticism as well as re-occurring thoughts into the life of the Apostles had caused this. Noticing that we, as the body of Christ, have compromised the mission and the gospel. Thinking through ideas of the persecuted church also had impacted this.
Late November and heading into December, up until now, has been a journey into defining discipleship. I am currently working on some ideas for re-creating discipleship in the lives of believers and non-believers. Acting Out- ACTS!
Look forward to New Year resolutions!

Great books I read in 09’:
The Renegades Guide to God by David Foster
The Unexpected Adventure by Lee Strobel and Mark Mittelberg
The Gospel According to Starbucks
Holy Ambition by Chip Ingram
The Soul Winner by Charles Spurgeon
Primal by Mark Batterson
And finishing off the year with, The Year of Living Like Jesus by Ed Dobson.

The Intension of Mission in New York (and some other thoughts)

2009-12-23T16:30:00.000-08:00

The Intension of Mission in New York

This last week, I visited New York. Gabriella and I went to see friends and family, but I wanted to follow Christ for the Spirit of Christmas. I decided I wanted to go to NYC and spend time with the homeless.
“In the poor we find Jesus in His most distressing of disguises” – Mother Teresa
This idea started with the concept of spending three days on the streets of Manhattan. I had many ideas from open air preaching, loving on the homeless, and other books of Acts activities. As the weeks closed in on the time I would be going, plans got changed and I had to go for 2 nights in NYC. Still had all the anticipation in the world!
Finally, the day came. A friend of mine had said he wanted to join me, and I took this as a perfect opportunity to share the gospel and work toward discipleship. So, that day he decided not to wake up until 4pm. At the train station we met with some Christians evangelists who offered prayer and the million dollar bill tracts. So all in all, we ended up getting out there by 7pm.
As we set foot in NYC, I felt a sense of discouragement. I struggled against it and said I have committed myself to mission. We met a man who was raising money for a homeless charity, he himself was homeless. We talked with him for a while, shared testimonies (He had more faith than many Christians I know). Then, I met a man at McDonalds. He was very much in a hurry and just wanted $5 to get something to eat, so I gave him the money, asked his name, and prayed for him. (His name was really long and hard to pronounce- I know him as the guy who kind of looked like Borat).
As the time went on, I just didn’t feel the push like I originally had. I remember walking quietly behind my group of friends, and praying “But God I checked my motives, my attitude, and the concept makes perfect sense, where is the “Holy Spirit shove”?
We stayed in NYC until 3am that night, yes it was freezing, very bearable though.
That night I prayed and cried to God, why didn’t this go as planned? That was it!
“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps (Proverbs 16:9)”.
Quite humbling. Just when I think I have been humbled enough by the Lord, He continues to showing me it is Him who is Lord. Thanks be to God!
My Personal Survey of the Homeless People in NYC
To be quite honest, the homeless seem to be going at things pretty well. Most the homeless people in New York City are working as boosters or asking for change, quite boldly might I add. This trip I didn’t not see not even 1 sign that the homeless are famous for, as compared to the sign I bought right here in Fort Myers, Fl, from a homeless man.
I would extend thanks and support to the churches and outreaches in NYC that seem to be caring well for the homeless and the needs.

A Letter to My Friends and other Long Islanders

This past week I spent time on Long Island. I write this with the intension of sharing my thoughts during this trip.
Before I ventured to NY, I prayed that God would give me the wisdom to act in the ways needed to further the Gospel in the lives of my friends and loved ones. One particular thought that came to mind was that I needed to be relatable. In the words of Scripture, “All this to all men, that way I might save a few (I Corinthians 9:22-23)”. Last visit, I somewhat distanced myself, this visit I would “hang out”.
We had some good times and some rough times. But as I began to drive home, entering into the state of New Jersey, I began to think, “Did I make it serious enough? Today is the day of salvation!”
My heart and insight for Long Island is this:
You all need an elevated mindset. I wish I could take you into the Spiritual realm and show you why certain things you are doing and not doing just don’t make much sense. There is so much more. I can’t help but feel as if many of you are just getting by rather than truly living life. You only have one life to live, and I’m not talking about going “buck wild” but what about the greater things in life. Don’t push off importance until tomorrow.
Jesus Christ said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life…” There is another way to do life, there is another truth to understand, and more purpose-filled life to be lived.
Really..Look around? Heroin Epidemic, job loss, everyone making babies,….etc,
What do you have to lose?

The Million Dollar Question

The million dollar question is: Where will you go when you die?
Many Christian evangelists use these million dollar bills as gospel tracts and I would like to add some detail. I myself, have taken a vow to no longer just hand out tracts that have the whole you are a sinner, repent, and be saved “gospel” on them. The gospel of Jesus Christ has a lot more to say than just you are a sinner, repent and be saved. Actually, the good news is that even thought you will always be a sinner, there is another way to live. We do need to repent, and live a life through missional transformation. The gospel truly is: there is abundant life in following Christ and being transformed and renewed as you follow Him.
We need to add the abundant life aspect and follow-ship to the gospel when we hand out these tracts or else we are misleading the lost.
I have blogged about this view of the gospel before:
http://newsfromthetribe.blogspot.com/2009/11/what-is-this.html

Primitive Christianity

2009-12-22T18:32:00.001-08:00

I just finished reading Mark Batterson’s latest book, Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity. To be completely honest, when I first received the book in the mail and read the back and inside panel, a sense of disappointment gripped me. “A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity” is a very deep saying, and a similar quest is going on in various circles as we speak. When I read the brief descriptions, I questioned whether or not Pastor Mark would be able to give “primitive Christianity” its due respect.
As I read on, I realized I was wrong. Mark Batterson was to bring us back to simplicity and remind us of the most important aspects of the faith we claim. As stated by Batterson,
“Many Christians settle for simplicity on the near side of complexity. Their faith is only mind deep. They know what they believe, but they don’t know why they believe what they believe. Their faith is fragile because it has never been tested intellectually or experientially”.
We all know the Great Commandment that which I think we fail to internalize, “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength”. How many times have we recited this without thinking it through? Mr. Batterson breaks down the deeper thought of heart, mind, soul, and strength in ways I have never thought of.
As with all his books, Mark describes and explains things so well. Reminds me of a parable being told by Jesus Christ Himself, even if you don’t understand what he says, read further and you will. That’s the faith we can have in Mark Batterson as a writer.
The four elements that Mark described Great Commandment Christianity with, on the inside cover of the book, began to take on new meaning as you read through the book. Sure, you know and can define compassion, wonder, curiosity, and power, but let me say the way Mark Batterson adds personal testimony and descriptive insights of an intelligent mind, give you a sense of a true quest.
If I had to say one thing about how this book showed me a sense of primitive Christianity and the character of the author, Mark Batterson, I would say this;
Mark Batterson is an excellent example of a modern day apostle equipped with experiential stories, vast knowledge told in a parabolic way, and truly a life worth talking about. Without being to “blasphemous”, let me say, this book is a great addition to the Book of Acts!
Go out, get this book for the beginning of 2010. Read it, and let’s “start a coup de compassion the likes of which has not been seen since the first century”.

Prophetic Imagination and the Gossip of a Missional Christian

2009-11-30T16:26:00.000-08:00

Greetings in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord and King!

It has been a while, I hope everyone's "holy day season" is being blessed and will continue to be.
Well, to get right into it, I cannot begin to do this topic proper justice, but I will make an attempt. I seek to express my heart of these 2 vitally important aspects of our walk with Christ.
What is "prophetic imagination"? Basically the imagination Jesus Christ had, even more so the essence of God. Think about it. God uses some seriously interesting ways to reach people, a burning bush, a talking donkey, and the best of all, God putting on flesh! As stated by Shane Claiborne, "Until we have the sort of imagination that Jesus had to upstage hoarding and to celebrate a dream more liberating than the American dream, nothing will change".
If I had to define prophetic imagination, I would say its using the Holy Spirit creative force to reach the masses with the Gospel. Picture all the ideas...!!!
Just to reference, and now I am ashamed I even attempted to write this blog before reading..
The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann.

Now, using the prophetic imagination think about the mission. As Christians we are commanded to be on mission, spreading the gospel of Christ Jesus. All of us!!!
So, if we use this "prophetic imagination" in our everyday life, to fully persuade others of the truth that is in the gospel, what would our conversations be like.

I truly believe, that if we as Christian, devoted Christ-followers, begin to fully understand and live out the mission of Christ, we will "turn the world upside-down", just as the Apostles did in the 1st Century!
We have to become missional, and this will radically revolutionize everything we think we understand about the "Christian life".
Our Church gathering will be more than a song, dance, and sermon - rather it will be a time to gather as Believers and share and express all that the Lord is doing through us in our community.
Our lives will be so consumed with purpose we will not have as much worry or complacency of the whole sin matter.
Our Gospel (Good news of Christ) will make so much more sense to the world that so desperately needs it. Rather than repent and believe, it will be repent and live. Live this life that makes so much more sense.
And our conversation....
What did you and fellow Christians talk about after Church this week? gossip?
Consider, this...We will actually be able to gather and impact lives by all that the Lord is doing through us..Think of all the stories the 1st Century Believers could share! Or even more, think of the Chinese Church and how many stories they can tell! We have fallen short!
If and when we begin to follow the Jesus Christ, that SENT OUT the Believers, we can begin to be CHRISTIAN SUPER-HEROES!
Yes more to come....
Love to the body of Christ,
and a broken heart for the lost,
in the name of Jesus Christ,

Michael Miano
We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. (I Thessalonians 2:8)

What is this?

2009-11-16T11:27:00.001-08:00

Yes, thats the title, because that is what I am sitting here saying about this whole thing we call "Church". Suprised?
Well, its been a while since I blogged so a little update...I finished reading "An Irresistible Revolution" (yes, the book was awesome, thats a whole other topic in and of itself). I have been listening to alot of Francis Chan sermons, so I have been getting fed some serious Spiritual meat. Also, been delving into mennonite studies and New Monastics. So, its safe to assume, this will be a "radical" blog.
Main thought- WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?
So lately I have been thinking, what really is the good news? Is it the Spiritual "pie in the sky" message many preach, or how about the plain and simple, "social gospel"? It's very clean that we need to be clear on this because Scripture makes it quite clear that there are true and false gospels out there (2 Corinthians 11:4 & Galatians 1:9; and the devil is not a complete idiot to try and pass off something that is totally out there).
Yes, I put my study skills to use. Through studying I realized that the true Gospel of Christ Jesus is very Spiritual and also very practical, but in no way is the gospel tracks of I have seen the gospel of Christ. So I have taken a vow not to hand out these "gospel tracks" anymore. Bye Bye, "This could be your last 5 minutes alive" (that was the title of my latest set of 100 tracks).
As Christians would should be displaying the "kingdom of heaven on earth". Thats what this is all about "the kingdom of God" (refer to my first couple blogs). We yell to the unbelieving masses, "There is another way!!!". Most people are unsatisfied and are living a life totally outside God's best for them. Basically, feeding the pigs (read through Luke 15:11-31).
Th ultimate message of the Gospel of Christ is "come home", be who God created you to be, and live the life God has predestined for you. Why you ask? Because you know that this world has nothing to offer, look around, look within yourself...Let's be real!
Here is a brief essay I wrote the other day titled "A Compromised Mission".
Have we, the Christians compromised the mission? Do we focus on seemingly insignificant things in an effort to avoid having to deal with the real issues (lets say post-modernism)? I.E.- Materialistic culture, apathetic Christianity, lukewarm faith which has led us to a lack of persecution, lack of care and concern for the lost, this new version of "churchianity". Or even worse, do we focus on these things as a cover-up because we like what we have now, rather than going back to the ways of the 1st Century church? Look at the fruit then!!!
I always say "its not necessarily what you do that is sin, but rather what you dont do". Think about the gospel centered life, is it about being a sinless puritan or rather in the gospel a message of a whole different way of life? Doesnt scripture teach us that God will prune us of sin? Was sin a NT church focus? What does the church in China have to say about "our gospel"? What do they focus on? The mission! What if we focus on the mission, and allow God to do the work in us, rather than have a self-centered, create a partal sanitized life gospel?
Dont compromise the mission!!!
What about our faith is worth dying for? What is the "gospel"?
The unbeliever says- "wow this life sucks!"
Christians following Christ should be yelling back- "There is another way, the kingdom of
God stands in opposition to the ways of this world that dont lead to happiness. Where this world leads to death and destruction, the gospel of Christ leads to peace and abundant life!

RE-defining "Church"! (Me and Shane Claiborne)

2009-10-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

Well, its been a while…
I recently read what I might consider my best, though provoking read yet, The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne.
I had heard so much about the book, and searched through bookstores until I found it. What pushed me over the edge to HAVE TO READ was the story of Brandt Russo

http://adventure.wrecked.org/?filename=homeless-jesus&redirected=wreckedfortheordinary.com

So, I wanted to rehash some of the stuff in the book that provoked me to thought..
“Don’t let the world steal your soul. Being a Christian is about choosing Jesus and deciding to do something incredibly daring with your life”.
Wow- where did this attitude go? That’s so true..study the lives of the apostles, their lives were WRECKED!
One might ask, what is the “irresistible revolution”?
“There is a movement bubbling up that goes beyond cynicism and celebrates a new way of living, a generation that stops complaining about the church it sees and becomes the church it dreams of. And this little revolution is irresistible”. -I so needed to read that. I myself am not satisfied with what we call Church today, but at the same time, we know Christ Jesus loved the Church, died for the Church. I am so done with complaining and hearing people complain, its about time to BE THE CHURCH!
The motto of Freaked-Out Fellowship is “Turning the world upside-down”, so you know I loved it when Shane spoke about really taking in what Jesus said as if He meant it, and this could “turn the world upside-down”.
That’s the key- taking Christ Jesus at His Word and following Him!Basically to try and sum up some of the stuff I underlined…..,
Shane decided to truly live up to this “Irresistible Revolution”. He slept on streets with homeless people, lived with mother Teresa in a Leper Colony in Calcutta (Yes, you read that right!!!). Came home and lived and lives our authentic Christianity…
Oh man, I am so convicted!
A common problem I have is that I always do these deep searches of myself and ask God in prayer-”Where am I called?”..Shane makes it clear- “…rather than waiting around for God’s special plan for your life, you should just go find where God is already at work and join in”.
Totemism- making God in our own image!
“God created us in His image, and we decided to return the favor”- George Bernard Shaw
Shane’s book has given me such as desire to go back and study Church History (AGAIN). Take a good look at the book of Acts (something I love and urge all to study), also the sociology of the 1st Century Church. As well, as Monastics and other interesting stuff, that could so set us on fire today. A FIRE SO DESPERATELY NEEDED!
I truly hate economics and talk of such. I hate math, numbers, and our materialistic culture…So do!!! The way Shane talked about economics was so intriguing. He convicted me on some of my ways, and how selling everything isn’t going to create community, all that happens as community is formed. The way he explained “radical interdependence” was well put and answered my question on how a ministry should be supported!.
“Until we have the sort of imagination Jesus had to upstage hoarding and to celebrate a dream more liberating than the American dream, nothing will change. Until we have the courage to risk and scheme ways of redistribution with the same passion and fervor with which people scramble after wealth, the market will overpower God’s vision of JUBILEE. (oh yeah, that’s an entire story in and of itself)
Fear of God- It’s not about fearing hell, because we have been told that “the gates of hell with not prevail against the church”. But rather, the fear that we have no idea what following Jesus Christ will lead us to next. Or better said “I have no idea what in the world God’s going to dare me to do next”.
“Christians should be troublemakers, creators of uncertainty, agents of a dimension incompatible with society”- Jacques Ellul - JESUS FREAKS STAND UP!!!
Awesome coined term- “Theological Pranksters” (more to come on that…)
“…..we need more fools, holy fools who insist that the folly of the cross is wiser than any human power. And the world may call us crazy”.
How so? - “alternatives to existing world structures, of bartering communities, of money collectives for emergencies (instead of insurance), of prophetic interruptions to war and theft, of sustainable urban gardening and eco-energy alternatives, of using trash and wreckage of the consumptive world to create things that bring life and beauty”.

OK, so I apologize not much of an editorial blogger. Ha ha! That was basically my thoughts as I sat here fanning though the book. I would STRONGLY urge you to read the book, maybe a chapter after your Biblical devotions?
The book has sparked so many ideas in me…basically what Shane talked about in the book as “prophetic imagination" (which I will be blogging about soon!).

Really are you satisfied with the state of Christ’s bride? How about the state of the world? Let’s get to work!!!
Love you all, in Christ,
Pastor Michael Miano
http://www.freakedoutfellowship.weebly.com
Check out The Simple Way website: (Shane Claiborne’s “church”)
http://www.thesimpleway.org/

"Turning the world upside-down"

2009-09-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

Don't you love that quote? Thats my motto. AS a Believer in Christ, a sanctified trouble-maker like Jesus, thats my goal, as I believe thats what Christ, the King, wants us to be doing.
Allow me to elaborate a bit. Think of some things that are important in your life, or even better, what do you view as success? Now, pick up the Word of God, do you and God agree? (Seek 1st the Kingdom of God, and....)
That itself, is the Christian Revolution!
Think to to ressurection of Christ Jesus. He defied what this world views as normal. Rising from the dead? Wow!
I had read through, (and shared through open-air) the passage in Matthew chapter 5. Most of us know this as the Sermon on the Mount or even the Beatitudes.
Look at it...(I read it through THE MESSAGE, talk about impacting). Here I'm going to use the NIV.
Blessed are you...
"poor in Spirit", "When you mourn..", "the meek", "those who hunger and thirst for righteousness", "the merciful", "the pure in heart", "peacemakers",. ...you when you are persecuted".

Wow, ok so which of those do you see our culture promoting, actually our culture pretty much disdains all of them. That's why we need to be revolutionaries!

A revolution (from the Latin revolutio, "a turn around") is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.

Jesus is King,
His servant,
Mike Miano

P.S.
9-11 just passed. As many of you may know, I have an "alternative view" to what really happened on 9-11. I was a 9-11 truther, and still am in many respects, for a while.
This 9-11 I went and asked 2 basic questions.
What do you believe happened on 9/11/2001?
Where was God on 9/11/2001?

The results where very encouraging.
Let me say this, I have not become "watered-down" on the political aspect, but I see the bigger picture. The revolution isnt about politics, its about the hearts of men. I do believe that when men's hearts are changed, so will politics.
AS the saying goes..Seek 1st the Kingdom of God!

"Some Pretty Bad Things..."

2009-07-20T11:08:00.000-07:00

A message to try and sum up the radical, obsessive, crazy mind of Mr. Michael Miano. (Yes, its just an attempt! lol)
OK, so let me give a little backround, last month is the matter of a week, two people made this comment about me, "must have done something really bad in the past to be that crazy about God". I could go on for days about that comment, so the best place- MY BLOG!
Well, for the curious mind...Yes I have. I was a gang member and a leader, so use your imagination of the things I took part in, seen, and did. BUT, let me say this, the worst thing I have ever done, is something I still do in part, and you do as well. That is...Shun God and not live completely devoted, dedicated to living for Him. I mean every second.
Let me introduce you to the Jesus Christ, the Messiah, that I know.
The biggest problem today is that everyone "believes in God" or "believes Jesus died for them". The word believe almost provokes the thought that it might or might not be true. Not the case here, Jesus Christ living, dying and raising from the dead is a reality in my world. (Yeah, ask me for some evidence!!).
So, live with this reality. God creates man and woman. We decide to live for ourselves and it leads us to self destruction etc...FACE IT, we suck at life, we cant do it ourselves. So God, being as awesome and creative, and loving, as He is decides to come to Earth as man and live among us, to show us an example, and then die to make eternal life a reality! Truly follow Him, and His example and we will live forever.
Ok, so let me give some study information for those of you who might find the excuse, "ahh he just went off the deep end". 1st, I would reccomend the lastest trend- Crazy Love by Francis Chan (Confession- I have yet to read it, but study notes from others are enough to convince me).
Ok, first all sin is equal (JAMES 2:10-11), so its not that I have commited some crazy sin and am trying to make up for it. Plus, scripture tells us that we cannot earn salvation by good works, so regardless that wouldnt work(Ephesians 2:8,9).
You want to know why I am so devoted? Because the reality of Gods love for me, makes Him so worthy for me to live like that and also GOD COMMANDS IT!

I know ALL the things you DO, that you are neither HOT nor COLD. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like LUKEWARM WATER (BAD WATER), neither Hot nor Cold (GOOD WATER), I WILL SPIT YOU OUT OF MY MOUTH!
Revelations 3:14-22

Well hope that explained some...Always open to explain more.
with Love and Truth,
Michael Miano
A Freaked- Out Follower of Jesus Christ

http://so4j.com/what-is-a-lukewarm-christian.php

Yesterdays Devotional Reading

2009-07-11T15:32:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a while. Most of you loyal blog readers already know that I have some issues with consistency. These past couple weeks have had their ups and downs, physically, mentally, and of course Spiritually!
Yesterdays devotional reading came as an expressing of the “Living Water” for my thirsty soul. So much so that I wanted to share it.

Well, let’s turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I want to speak about reconciliation, as our position and responsibility. Looking to the text we realize that the Apostle Paul is admonishing the Corinthian Church. Judgment is upon us and we know we will face judgment on what we did with this life the Lord gave us (verse 10). SINCE, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we know the TRUTH, our job is to tell others, actually better put -PERSUADE! (verse 11).
To me this thought alone, judgment, is enough to make us out of our minds (verse 13), as many of you have heard my expression of visions and dreams concerning the Day of Reckoning. This “out of our minds” is what should give us the passion we need to express the seriousness of this message.
Verses 14-15, express that by Christ’s love and death, we are compelled to spread the message that all should turn to Him as Lord and Savior, “Since He died for us we should live for Him”!

We are ambassadors of Christ imploring (which means to express with earnest supplication) that all should be reconciled to Christ! Are you on the job?
Not hired? Yes you have. That brings us to the next part of my devotional. Now, let’s turn to Jeremiah chapter 1. Believe it or not the person you are today, was created and foreseen before the foundations of the world, and you were hired before birth. Verse 5 says it all- “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…”.

Let us all realize this truth. Let us listen and understand to the command of the Lord which enables us to be Ambassadors of reconciliation.
“You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 1:7-8).

"It's like being Born Again"

2009-06-22T14:18:00.000-07:00

A continuation of the latest trip- Living Life!

Yes, so its still on my mind, actually it seems to be making me crazier and crazier. ha ha ha.
Well, to be completely honest, my goal was to be a risk-taker and complete the 3-day challenge given by liveontheedge.com, but spending almost a whole day in a car, then eating dinner, than playing in the pool all day, and then the car again really didn't afford me the opportunity to "live on the edge".
So, last night it happened again! I was watching the movie "Passengers", and the story line is that this woman is counseling these survivors of a plane crash. The one "survivor" is living very risky, such as jumping off buildings, using other peoples boats, basically living on impulse. Then, he made this statement- "It's like being born again". Wow- talk about a Word from God!

Where have we heard that before? "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).
I have never really thought about that. As Christians we are baptized, and this symbolizes are dying to self and to this world, and being born again in Christ.
If you are dead, and now alive, how should you live? Obviously, we should be living a risk-taking life, appreciating the resurrection power and so much more. That is, if the resurrection is your reality.
I have realized that, there is a healthy difference between spontaneity and routine, and that is being Born Again, and living in the Spirit! Amen!

"Divine Impulse", I guess it could be called.

My personal oath and quote of the day is this.... “Lord, I will follow Thee—but—.”....FORGET THAT!! Stop putting flowers at the base of the cross, pick it up and follow Him!"

No more excuses, let's be totally Freaked-Out!
Here is the Challenge: What do you do if you cannot die? How do you live if you cannot die? What do you do if you will live forever and the next phase will be unimaginably wonderful – forever?

"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go."
— T.S. Eliot

Some Risk Taking links:

http://www.themoorings.org/life/basics/risk.html
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/Easter/Nine-Ways-to-Live-the-Resurrection.aspx

Don't Wanna Waste My Life!!!

2009-06-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

I know, I know....I am obsessed with Lecrae. Get over it! ha ha ha....Actually I am obsessed with the term, because it is such a great "Kingdom living principle".

Its been said...107 people die every minute, 6390 every hour, 153,000 every day......

Do you know when you will DIE? No, you dont! You could die in 10 minutes, you could die in 5 days, 10 years, 50 years, etc..But the FACT is you dont know. Unless of course, you take the death clock.
http://www.deathclock.com/

This has been on my mind alot (Living life to the max), I keep hearing messages on it and every movie I watch think about it. I'll brief you on some of the latest..Ok, so I saw the movie Revolutionary Road. Yeah, I have a wife thank you very much, stop laughing! Anyways, the couple was living an ordinary, boring life and the wife wanted to bring back the excitement they once had, before they allowed facts of life ( getting older, children, etc) to hold them back. They get so excited thinking about it, then...(I dont want to ruin the movie for you). Or how about The Hangover? Ok, block out all the sin and fornication nonsense, look at the deeper issue. These men were participating in a Bachelor party, which I guess is saying "Have a blast before you end it all", horrible stance for marriage (Marriage is the beginning of life not the end!!!).Anyways, these men had mediocre lives, and this night they lived out the life God had put in them (ok, well they needed to get drugged to do it, frown).

See the point though? When you die, will you stand at judgment thinking what you could have, should have, or failed to do? You don't know when that will be, so get on with what the Lord put inside you.

Now let me add a disclaimer to this. I got to thinking. I agree with this so much because I know the life that the Lord Jesus Christ has put inside me, what vision and calling He has placed in me, THE LIFE, so to speak. In no way shape or form and I saying go out and do whatever you want. This is a Christian blog! BUT, you have desires and dreams, fantasies, and callings, that God placed in you for a reason, are you living it out? Are you wasting your life?

The first thing I would advise you to do is study the Word of God, then examine yourself (what makes you, YOU?), then live it out! In this order!

I came across an awesome site, which if used in the right way can be of maximum quality to a believer, check it out.

http://www.liveontheedge.com/

Love in Christ,
Mike Miano
http://www.freakedoutfellowship.weebly.com
Also we are on myspace.com now
http://www.myspace.com/freakedoutfellowship

A day of learning

2009-06-09T18:18:00.000-07:00

Greetings in Christ.
Well today, as was yesterday, and the last couple days, have been difficult. I don't know what it is, my patience has been tried. Well, Heavenly Father, continue to guide and strengthen me. Amen!
Today, I listened to some awesome messages.
First, I want to start with HUMILITY. AS Christians, we know how important this attribute is. I listened to a message from 2/42 Community Church, I urge everyone to check out their podcast. Well the message was about learning with humility. Many of us, myself included sometimes think we know it all. We totally don't! Some great examples of the human stupidity were given which I got a kick out of.
Hand Sanitizer- For external use only. Hello, its for your hands! Even more so, this was an excellent point- We pick up the sanitizer with our dirty hands, use it, then put it away! ha ha ha

hmmm...I could go on and on, but I just found an awesome website that makes the point!
http://www.rinkworks.com/said/warnings.shtml

Such smart creatures, we are? Right?
I just want to shout out a certain man who has expressed humility to me. Pastor Alex Bryant from First Assembly, The House
http://www.thehizzie.com
This is a man who has such humility, and is always willing to learn and teach that we don't have all the answers. IMPACT!

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2).
“Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor” (Proverbs 18:12)."
“Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life” (Proverbs 22:4)."

And now for another topic, REGRET. For the last couple weeks a topic that has resonating in my mind is LIVE EVERYDAY AS IF ITS YOUR LAST. Such an important topic.
Concerning regret, basically it is so true that most the things we regret are things we failed to do, not so much the things we have done.
So a major part of life is to recognize the things the Spirit is telling you to do, say, or whatever- that way you wont have regret.
Well thanks everyone,
goodnight and God bless
Michael Miano

Where Have all the Radicals Gone?

2009-05-29T06:20:00.000-07:00

"...they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come here also (Acts 17:6)".

After the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the band of disciples who followed Him, set out and defied the religious institution and went against society norms, all in the effort to preach that everyone must "save themselves from this corrupt generation". That is the same message we as the body of Christ need to be yelling today. I sometimes sit and think about the current state of things, are we reading the same Bible about the same followers? This isn't some sit in church, clap your hands, sing a song, listen to a message and live a good life type of thing here, this is the call to be radical. Let us always remember the Spirit of the band of disciples who followed Christ, who we call Apostles, as well look to Church history for those who have blazed these trails before us.
The book of Acts is filled with exactly that- Acts of the Apostles. Peter on Pentecost preaching to multitudes, he is warning them and preaching with a passion, that they must realize the Truth. After a great healing, Peter once again preaches about repentance to the onlookers. These two stories alone show a pattern of consistency and passion, so much that Peter and John were brought up for trial to the religious leaders. Read how many believers were added to the Church. I say that not to point out that we need bigger walled churches, but rather to show that in some senses we have lost the passion for the lost. Only the Spirit of God can give us this radical passion, which will provoke us to get out there and be heard.
If today, there was to be a persecution of Christians in our land, would our testimonies and work shine so bright that we would be dragged away? I fear not, because most of us, unlike the Apostles are not being heard, or shaking things up. The Apostles made the world as we know it uncomfortable, unlike Christianity of today (Church-ianity) in which is the normal faith of the day. Everyone says there a Christian!!!
Polycarp, a faithful disciple of the Apostle John, was an example of a follower who during persecution was singled out and was martyred. This was a man who fought heresies in the Church and dedicated his life to the ministry. Or consider the Monks, such as Anthony or Francis. At a time when the Church was beginning to inter-mingle with the affairs of the world, these monks set themselves apart and fled to institutional church. Many of us fail to realize that this upset the "religious world" and Rome had alot of hostility toward them. Imagine that, the same Church that calls these men "Saints" actually disregarded them at the time of their service.

"Constantine adopting the Christian faith, resulted in a decline in Christian commitment. The radical believers who Diocletian killed were replaced by half-converted pagans" -Church History Textbook

Another great believer, Peter Waldo (1140-1218) led a band of believers much like the Apostles and are considered one of the first "back to the Bible movements". The Waldenses preached a return to the simple life of the Apostles, living a voluntary life of poverty and preaching. Once again, this radical move challenged the ideas of the day, so this was declared heretical and by 13th Century were pretty much scattered. Even more, lets look at the challenge of
John Wycliffe and John Hus, both who are considered Reformers of their day. They saw the problems in the Church and rather than complain, they took the initiative to make the changes. Many could question, where would the Church teachings be today if it wasn't for the courage of these two men.
Let's consider the Haystack Prayer Meeting. This is actually new to me. I have studied Church History for a couple years now, but up until I studied my Missiology course, I had never heard of this. Wow, the story of these young men who took another great radicals thoughts (William Carey- Father of Modern Missions) and considered them and prayed for them. These students had a divine moment in which they had to consider whether they were going to back or or give their all. These ordinary students birthed what we call "Foreign Missions" today. We all support that, right? Well, guess what, as widely received and welcomed as missions are today, they weren't always. The book," An Inquiry into the Obligation of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathen", was very controversial, yet this led to what we have today. Wow, radical!

"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage (Matthew 5:13) THE MESSAGE BIBLE."

We cannot end a radical essay without the mention of people like John Wesley who led the Methodist Revival and now what we understand as Evangelical. Or William Booth who created the Salvation Army. Or how about the Azuza Street Revival. All these movements and moments were considered different at that time, but today they are what lead the Church. Have we lost the Spirit of revival?

Allow me to conclude with this honest admission. Church History classes were so boring, even reading the text, I couldn't wait to finish the reading for the night. But, so many times I would come across some of these men that I have mentioned herein, and would get excited, even to the point of "googling" more information. The men of Church History who were ostracized and criticized, persecuted and condemned, are actually men who have led the Church, the bride of Christ, to be what we are today. Have we lost the passion, the zeal, and the life that will make the mission, the Great Commission, complete?

"We have sunk into such a compromising way of dealing with the unconverted as to well nigh lost the spirit of the primitive preachers, and hence it is that sinners of every description can sit quietly as they do, year after year, in our places of worship".- Andrew Fuller

Since, I claim to be a "Jesus Freak", let us remember and prayerfully consider the "Jesus Freak Movement" of the 1960s and early 1970s. This was a mix of the hippie culture and Protestantism. Now, I am now not a hippie, but wow, God is so good, a Jesus Freak is someone who displays Christ in the way God created them. A hippie, a thug, a rock star, a quite mouse type, a goth, a anarchist, a pretty lady,
WE ARE ALL CALLED TO BE "JESUS FREAKS"!!!!

Written by Michael Miano
http://www.freakedoutfellowship.weebly.com

What is going on here?

2009-05-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

First off let me say I love my Savior Jesus Christ, I love the Truth-Word of God, and I love my fellow believers and followers of the Messiah.
But really, what is going on here?
Yesterday, I had a meeting with a good friend and a pastor at a local church. Both great men of God. Today, I have spent the early morning praying, studying, and thinking about that meeting.
In prayer, I began to think "What is going on here". We, the radical, revolutionary followers of Christ Jesus, are beginning to look and sound more like an organizational entity rather than the band of followers who followed Christ.
I was aiming for a direct quote from the pastor I spoke with but I cant remember word for word, so here is a close summary.

A Ministry needs to plug into a Church, because the Church is the foundational authority, and also to make sure the ministry or its leader doesn't go off the deep end.

Now granted, the word ministry or an entity called a ministry is not in the Word of God. Ministry is understood to be a service to the Church. But the last part is having a hard time resonating with me. I do understand accountability, but which is to God not man or mans' institution.
"Off the deep end", Well aren't we suppose to be off the deep end? I mean in Christ, in Truth of course. Who considers what off the deep end is? A pastor? The Word of God? Off the deep end can mean many things to many people. Some people may think Christian rock and hip-hop is off the deep end in the Christian world, or baggy clothing. Or even contemporary worship. So, we must discern everything by the fruit it bears, but at the same time live in the liberty which is in Christ.
I was reminded of the many stories I have read in Church History, where believers have stepped up with something radical and were persecuted for it. Most of the churches and denominations of today, have come from these radical changes. Some examples would be the Waldenses, Lutherans, Baptists, and so many more. I can guarantee that the "Church" of that day, considered these sects to be "off the deep end".
Today, the church is beginning to look like an organization, where there is permission granted to do certain things the Lord is putting into the followers hearts. Maybe off the deep end means what is considered not normal,maybe not of the this world? Well so be it.
I hate to sound stubborn and conceited about things, but I cannot be a follower of a Messiah who defeated death, who set us free from the captivity of sin, and at the same time, have limited freedom to follow the spirit of God which lives within the Church.
We the Church, are not a religion (which also means to control), we are not religious (stuck by a set rules and guidelines), we are not an organization or business,...
WE ARE THE RADICAL BAND OF FOLLOWERS WHO ARE COMMITTED TO OUR MESSIAH AND HIS TRUTH, AND TOTALLY COMMITTED TO BE NOT OF THIS WORLD, AND TO "TURN THE WORLD UPSIDE-DOWN".
Let us live up to this,
Pastor Mike Miano
http://www.freakedoutfellowship.weebly.com

Moralistic Christianity- An in depth look at "SIN"

2009-05-11T20:23:00.000-07:00

I would like to use this message to speak a bit about sin. Most people who know me, know my attitude concerning sin and the religious mind-set. I HATE IT!
I strongly believe that too many Christians are focused on the wrong thing. So many times do I get into legalistic discussions about what is or isnt sin, so with this blog I would like to clear aware some issues.
What is sin? Sin comes from the root meaning "to miss the mark". I would use the analogy of a dart board. If you throw a dart and miss the bulls-eye, no matter how close you get, if it is not in the little ring, you MISSED the mark! So in matters of sin, no matter how hard we try we still miss the bulls-eye of perfection, so why argue about how far or close we can get. We are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God.
This all comes from a recent discussion with a dear friend concerning what is sin and what isnt. Let me be upfront, I HATE TALKING ABOUT SIN, and that is justified because God hates sin! Why do we focus on what we shouldnt be doing, when half the church isnt doing what they should BE DOING. Here is a couple quotes for you to ponder "I am about my Fathers business" and "seek first the Kingdom of God". SO STRAIGHT FROM JESUS CHRIST: GET FOCUSED ON WHAT WE SHOULD BE DOING!
I am in the middle of reading an excellent book which touches on this topic. "A Renegade's Guide to God by David Foster". The book speaks about the difference between religion and Christianity. Religion is about the good and the bad, rules and regulations. Christianity is about following the resurrected, living Messiah, Jesus Christ. "Life, and life more abundantly". Two great questions he posed in the book were : Who decides what is right for who and How good is good enough for God?
Galatians 2:16 says "a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus...". So even if you want to be legalistic and make rules after rules, you still will not be justified, so why not just focus on following the Messiah and letting him prune you off sin (John 15:2).
Let me say, I absolutely love the analogy that David Foster uses. So, lets say you have an excellent driving record, no tickets, never been pulled over, or anything (obviously nothing like me). One night while driving you fall asleep at the wheel and hit a car full of teenagers, all of them die. Do you think anyone will remember or talk about your awesome driving record after that? No, and thats similar to how God views our sins. We know we dont have an excellent driving record with God, but if you did, we all know we will continue to sin until we receive our glorified self, so in Gods' eyes your righteousness doesn't amount to anything besides "filtered language - dirty rags". See, even the Word of the Lord can be quite straight forward. We must remember all sin is equal (James 2:10).
Read Matthew 5:20. That should be a clear cut to those who try to be goody-two-shoes. You can try by all your righteousness, but I will focus on following Jesus the Christ, and let Him alone redeem me.

OK, I would like to conclude this with a study I did a while ago. (yes, this is my famous sin study with the man who wanted to argue tattoos are sin, which is another FUN one.)

Ok, what is sin? I John 3:4 says "Sin is lawlessness"
So the next question would be, whats is the law? James 2:8 says "If you keep the royal law found in scripture, love thy neighbor as thyself, you do right. Or even as Romans 13:10 says "Love is the fulfillment of the law".(c.f.- I John 3:11,Galatians 5:14, 2 John 6).
God is Love- I John 4:8

The message of salvation in Christ is very simple, and in scripture we are warned against those who make it difficult. This is what the Pharisees did. (2 Corinthians 11:3). God never changed the Law but rather He brought our focus back, The leaders at the time of Christ had led so many away from God and focused on sin because the Law is for sinners (Romans 3:19-24). The Law is good IF USED PROPERLY (I Timothy 1:8-11).

The spirit of the Pharisee is still alive today. Many so-called Christians are judgmental, picking others faults, white washed catacombs, making up new laws etc..And this is not meant to bash, but make you aware. Our focus should be living out the image and idea God created in us.
BUT..
Here is more of an argument for freedom by grace.
I Corinthians 6:12 tells us that everything is permissible, might not be good for you though. (c.f.- Titus 1:14-15, All of Romans 14).
When should you limit this freedom? In love! Remember we have the law of love! Romans 14:13-23
A Spiritual man can be judged by no man (I Corinthians chapter 2)

Ok, I hope that was an in depth look at sin, for all those who dwell on that matter.
THE ENDING OF THE DISCUSSION IS THIS...
LET'S SAY, I DO THAT WHICH IS SIN, I FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD, WHAT'S NEXT? CAN YOU SAY THE SAME? IF YOU DOM, THEN YOU ARE IN TRUTH, IF NOT YOU ARE A LIAR! SO THEN, DO YOU SEE HOW FUTILE IT IS TO TALK ON AND ON ABOUT WHAT IS OR ISNT SIN? LET US LEARN FROM THE WORD OF GOD, LIVE LIFE FREE AND IN LOVE, AND LET GOD PRUNE US OF OUR IMPURITIES,
AFTER ALL, ISNT THAT WHAT HE DOES?

THANK YOU, GOD BLESS, IN CHRIST,
PASTOR MIKE MIANO

Update Blog - Keep it Simple

2009-05-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

First off, let me start with "I'm Sorry". I am such a horrible blogger for those who read and look forward to my blogs. Its been close to two months on this blog since I have made a post.
Well, today's message from pastor Matt at Next Level Church hit the mark. Struck me guilty of "OVERLOAD" and now I am repenting. The past 2 months I have thought about blogging, had some good messages I wanted to share, but always had a busy excuse NY, Gabriella was sick, busy, busy, busy...
So, I will be back on my blogging. I wanted to talk a bit about the message pastor Matt delivered and some things he said and how they impacted me.
Well, here is the link to the message, if you would like to hear it yourself. It's apart of NLC's new series "Overload- disconnect to reconnect".

http://www.nextlevelchurch.com/templates/_nextlevel/details.asp?id=37624&PID=659042

Anyways, the most profound thing pastor Matt said that resonated in my heart was that "the natural human heart/ mind always wanders to make things more complicated". So True, I have seen this in my ways, my life, and the ministry. I had a conversation yesterday where I had confessed to a brother in Christ, that the Lord is re-teaching me "simplicity". It's so true that "the simple things confound the wise".
We, the Tribe of Dan Ministry, have had a minor transition. I am leading up the work in a new ministry called "Freaked-Out Fellowship", in which yours truly in the lead pastor! We are taking it back to simplicity- Creating Jesus Freaks! This had a lot to do with my latest learnings in love for the simple things in every aspect of life. Relationships, evangelism, prayer, etc..
Oh yeah, check out the Freaked-Out Fellowship webpage, we are still doing work but we look to launch in June or July.
http://www.freakedoutfellowship.weebly.com
Well, I'm going to follow my own advice and keep it simple with this blog. I hope you might look into the simplicity that is in Christ today, and you learn in your own walk, following Christ daily!
God bless, in Christ,
Pastor Mike

Wanted: Godly Men!

2009-03-11T07:06:00.000-07:00

"And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, "We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach." (Isaiah 4:1)

Greetings in Christ. Ok, so this topic is quite controversial (I Love it!!). Brother Paul Curran and I have discussed the prophetic verse quoted above and come to sort of different conclusions, or maybe just ways to go about it.
Last week I was speaking to a friend, and we were discussing relationships of men and women. This friend of mine said the same thing many women I have spoken to say, and that is basically that men who are the men women need them to be are a dying breed. I am always quick to point out the difference between a man and a boy. Actually, I know remember a good sermon delivered by Paul Washer concerning being a man, (I will include the link to that sermon below).
Ok, so back on track. So this conversation led me to say, as I always "unthinkingly" say, "Yeah we are working on building up real men" (through the Ministry that is). Then I thought of Isaiah 4:1.
Now, brother Paul takes the stance that this shows that there will be few "real men" in the coming times of the end (which we are already in and we do see this as truth). I agree with that wholeheartedly. But, brother Pauls stance in on Polygamy, which basically says that this verse shows that God will want man to take care of many women, or better yet it will be needed.
I got to thinking, what if that verse is taken as a command to build up better men, somewhat of a warning. I mean, lets be serious. We can all see the lack of true men in our culture.
But women, you aren't going to get off that easy. Whats your part in all of this? I can name a few. But I would rather focus on solution.
So, me and my thinking mind, came up with a survey which I asked 4 people (2 guys/2girls) for their answers to some basic questions. The one questions that applies here is:
"Are you satisfied with the culture of man/woman? Why or why not?".
The results where very interesting.

Girl 1- No, guys don't respect women.
Guy 1- No, Women don't respect themselves.
Girl 2- No, guys lie to get their way. But there are some who are true.
Guy 2-

Do you see the pattern? So the conclusion I have drawn is this. Its twofold. If men would respect women more, it would lead to women respecting themselves more. And, if women would respect themselves more, then men would respect them more.
My disclaimer is this though. Calling Men! We are the "leaders or seed-planters" of the culture. It is our responsibility to "dress and keep the garden". So lets work together, to build up strong men of the Lord, who can help our women be the daughters of the King they are supposed to be.
I hope this was edifying.
God bless, in Christ,
Pastor Michael Miano

Paul Washer preaching on Biblical Manhood
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=730089206

Certified Jesus Freak

2009-02-25T08:50:00.000-08:00

Hey, I want to go a bit off topic today. Most of you that know me, know I claim the title of "Jesus Freak", even so far that I have it tattooed on my wrists. So a good question would be, "OK, mike whats a Jesus Freak?". or better yet, why are you so obsessed with the term.
Well, lately as usually through study and prayer, I have done alot of self observation into my passions. What makes me, me! And I have realized my ultimate passion, overall is to create "Jesus Freaks".
Yesterday, while in prayer I came up with the perfect definition to what a "Jesus Freak" is to me. A Jesus Freak is someone who is set apart for Christ ( Greek term - Hagios which means saint and set apart). "Different" (remember we are called to be peculiar people). Basically a man or woman who knows who they are as a person (standing naked), values who God created them to be, and knows Christ Jesus, and knows who they are in Christ. We are created in Gods' image, which means God had an idea and concept when he made us, and we are all unique and so different.
Analyze yourself...What goals, desires, visions, fulfillments, gifts, talents, overall personality did God make you with? Put all that together and show it to the world, influence the world by being you = Jesus Freak!
My favorite analogy to a "Jesus Freak" is David. David was a youngest sibling, a nobody in the family, ignored and tending the sheep, This was the man God wanted to make king and a man after Gods' own heart. When David went to fight Goliath, he didnt use what seemed normal armor that Saul gave him, he used his own experience an talent to defeat Goliath. So is the Christian battle today. We are at war against Satan, and as Christs' body we must use our experiences etc..to defeat Satan.
I personally feel the way to live the abundant life that Christ promised is to find Christ Jesus in your heart, then through prayer and study application apply who you are in Christ, and then express it. Through this you will find such fulfillment.
That is my passion, to help people live as Jesus Freaks. If you want more information, email me
folksudy6@yahoo.com
God bless, in Christ Jesus,
Pastor Michael Miano

Denomination Discernment

2009-02-18T05:38:00.000-08:00

Greetings in Christ, to the entire body of Christ.
Let us pray that we might be humble enough to recognize that we don't have all the answers and that there are many things when we get to the day of judgment, we will have many questions and many corrections as well. ( I know I sure do)!
Well this blog comes as a result of prayer, discussions, and study. Many a times, people bash other churches, denominations, etc.I myself have been very guilty of this as well. We all may have certain things we disagree on and yes, some are very important aspects, but must we bash? Remember we are the body of Christ, which means arms, legs, nose, eye, all different parts.
Recently I finished reading a book called "Up the Middle Church" written by Pastor Matt Keller of the Next Level Church (I personally attend here in Fort Myers, FL.). Teh book was great, thats a shout out! Anyways, he had spoken on how churches and pastors should relate to each other, is the body of Christ a business that we should only promote our church with the product, Is Jesus Christ on sale at your church?
No, we are all the body of Christ just different aspects. As the Word says, and I have spoken on many times, "Be all things to all men". I personally believe that the Lord wants to reach into every aspect of life, may it be businesses, gangs, protests, hang outs, etc. and have His way! Thats why the 12 apostles turned the world upside down!
I re-read the Final Quest series by Rick Joyner (Great Series!!) and Rick Joyner speaks about how these other denominations and churches who we may consider back slidden, out of touch, specific topic (i.e. Baptist, Pentecostal, etc). The Lord is using this for His glory, because as I may not understand the whole baptism thing, I may drive more toward the Pentecostal, and the other way around. Certain truths hold certain people, so don't bash because in sense you may b putting a stumbling block in your brothers way (Woe to those!).
To finalize this, I heard a sermon delivered by Tim Conway the other day and he made a really excellent point;
The day will come when, you will stand hand in hand, persecuted, defending, brothers in Christ, who disagree with you 90% theologically and doctrinally, but what ties you both together as brothers and sisters in the Lord is:
The Risen Christ, Jesus our Lord and Savior.
May we honor this truth.
-Pastor Mike Miano

Kingdom Finances

2009-02-09T16:13:00.000-08:00

Greetings in Christ.
Ok, well I know I have touched on this topic before either in teaching or in this blog, but I felt it deserved a blog of its own.
Time and time again, I attend church services where they discuss finances,tithes, etc..especially lately since its the end of the economy as we know it (yes, I said it). Anyways, I get very irritated at times, because the solution is just so simply. I feel I say that alot, I guess when you have a written Word of God which contains the solutions, if you just obey, YEAH ITS THAT SIMPLE.
Ok, so what are the aspects of kingdom finances. Are you suprised that is related to the kingdom of God?
This week, I attended Next Level Church once again (Yes, Gabriella and I have decided to make that our "home church"). They topic is now Piggy Bank, the topic statement says it all though, "Putting our finances BACK TOGETHER".
Did you catch that? Back Together. A very simple solution to all the economic problems lies in the 1st Century Church.
In Acts chapter two, the beginning of the Church, its says this.."An all that believed were TOGETHER, AND HAD ALL THINGS IN COMMON. And sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all men, as every man had need (Acts 2:44-45)". Also consider refer to Acts 4:31-37.
Yes, the solution lies is what many have termed "Christian Communism". Communism falls and fails because of pressure, selfishness, and laziness. This is why the Christians can accomplish a form of communism that lacks those attributes.
I firmly believe in this aspect so much, I have considered joining communes, monasteries, etc..We are taught by the Lord to love not the material things of this world.
When we learn to work together and bring all things together (yes, tithing with the local church is great, but I am talking ALL THINGS.) we will experience the best blessings ever.
If this has touched you, contact me and we can work out ways to bring all things together to benefit all. God bless.
pastor Michael Miano
folksudy6@yahoo.com
http://www.freewebs.com/tribeofdanministry/

Judgment Reality Vision

2009-02-03T16:05:00.000-08:00

Most of you who know me, know of my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. You may have heard me speak about the Lord speaking to me through a vision or dream, maybe just prayer, or the Lord blessings me with vision or insight.
Well last night, I was blessed with a quick vision to edify myself and others. As I was driving and praying concerning my latest works and such, I felt that inner voice. Now, truthfully, I tried to quite it because I was driving and didn't want to cause an accident, so I just listened in a sense. I will share what it consisted of, and then clarify how it edified me.
" I was standing at the judgment throne, looking around I saw many people I knew, I saw friends, family, mere acquaintances, etc. I saw faces with joy and anticipation, other faces looking scared and nervous, and some looked shocked. I was standing in front of the judgment throne and everyone was surrounding me."
Now many of you may recall, I had a vision very similar to this recently.That one was more aimed toward others, as what would you say to me at judgment, would you be glad that I told you about Jesus Christ and my relationship with Him, or would you be ashamed that you never chose to listen and would be eternally cursed, remember that one?
OK, well this one was more aimed internally to me. I began to think, am I doing all that I can in all relationships with family, friends, acquaintances, etc, to show how serious this matter is. Christians are commanded to be all things to all men, so am I doing that. Am I making mention of Christ when I should be? Am I getting personal and learning about the right people (i.e.- standing naked mentally, emotionally,and spiritually)? Am I sharing my testimony? Am I joking around and relating to the right people?
This was really convicting to me, so I hope maybe it will bless you as well. Sit and think, how will those you know as family, friends, acquaintances, etc..look at you at judgment? Will you be ashamed and sorry, or will you be able to have firm resolve knowing you did all that you can to affect those the Lord brought into your life?
Judgment is a reality! The Word of God tells us that we will all stand before the judgment throne of God, and He will open the Lambs Book of Life, and judge our deeds. We all do evil, that is why we know we need an intercessor on that day, the Lord Jesus Christ, has already paid the debt we have, all it takes now is for us to accept it.
I hope all those who know me, and I see at judgment will be able to smile and think, "Thanks Mike, for explaining God's plan, and making it a reality for me to see".
If I can help anyone in this capacity or any other, please let me know
my email is folksudy6@yahoo.com
God bless, in Christ name,
Pastor Mike Miano

For a listing of scriptures concerning judgment:
http://www.biblebb.com/files/tniv/JUDGMENT.TXT

Lessons for the Tribe concerning Church

2009-02-01T17:24:00.000-08:00

Well, I had a different message for today but since its Sunday, I went to Next Level Church and listened to the last segment of the Act Now series. I have to say it was a blessing and the words spoken by pastor Mike Ash, hit home.
Today is Super Bowl Sunday, so we talked a little bit about football. The teams that make it to the Superbowl arent necessarily the best teams record wise, but yet they made it. How? Why? Now what? When I heard that, I thought about the Church. We arent the coolest thing to the world, nor do we have excellent celebrity speakers and such. But we are in the "game" to win, we might not have the best track record, so how do we do this?
Well first of all, we must learn to "play" together effectively. Understand your team members, know their strengths and weakness. They strategize a bit...How can we work to downsize the weaknesses and utilize everyones strengths?
Also another great point to ponder is...What body part are you willing to lose? Most of us would either say none or name a body part we view as trivial. Let's say a toe..Now a toe seems insignificant, but yet it is not. Toes help keep balance, etc...I actually researched a they have a site for Toe-Amputees (I apologize, I in no way want to make a joke of this, just using it as a allegorical example). So point is, every body part, no matter how seemingly insignificant is needed and important.
The Word of God tells us that we are all members of the body of Christ. Each and everyone of us is important to the function of the body.
Last but not least- A great point was made concerning how all these body parts should look together (just in case you are clumsy and uncoordinated, then we cant use the body as a good example lol). The double sided disco ball looks cool and functions awesome. All the lights (Remember the Word calls us lights, and yes we are all soo different) and the motion makes it look so cool. Thats how we the Church are suppose to be working and look. Thats a truly Spirit led Church!
Do we look like this.....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FqCFWnwr0I
Are we manifesting His glory as we should?
Let's be the Church!
Pastor Mike Miano

Our Only Defense..

2009-01-15T16:48:00.000-08:00

Our Only Defense..

Ok, this may come as surprise to everyone, but civilization is crumbling before our eyes. I hope most if not all understood my sarcasm, because I hope to the Lord Almighty, that wasn't a surprise.
So the obvious would be to ask, "So what is the solution to TEOTWAWKI (THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT)?"

Well, this may come as a surprise, The Kingdom of God. I know I have touched on this before, but now I wanted to bring the current attacks on this mindset to your attention.
I was recently listening to the Alex Jones InfoWars broadcast, and it was being spoken on how self sufficient living is being outlawed daily.
Firstly, the kingdom of God - a self-sufficient, Christian community, operating is gifts and callings, and distributing our goods to one another, is our defense to all problems past, present, and future.
So of course, Satan would do whatever is in his power to disrupt that.

here are some brief links of some outrageous happenings in our world...

http://ppjg.wordpress.com/2008/12/22/fda-on-the-attack-against-family-farms/

http://www.fa-rm.org/blog/labels/Farm%20Raids.html

more to come on this issue, (sorry its late and haven't had time to do enough research) Check out the sites!

God bless, in Christ,
Pastor Mike

Kingdom Building- Solution Church

2009-01-07T11:55:00.000-08:00

Recognizing your calling, gifts, talents, etc..is what leads to the abundant life that we all seek and Christ Jesus promised. We are all created in the image (idea and concept) of God, which means that there is a role we are to fulfill, we are important to the kingdom, through free will, we can acknowledge what is birthed in and through us, and work toward kingdom building. OR we can fail to utilize the gifts, calling, vision, purpose we have been ordained to fulfill and never reach the point of abundant life. SO, COUNT THE COST!
A good pointer to make is that we can only access the power to use our gifts, calling, vision, talents in the capacity that we are to, when we are born again through Christ Jesus. This will lead to our judgment of "Well done my good and faithful servant" or "Depart from me I know you not".
ONCE AGAIN, COUNT THE COST!

"Solution Church"
Our callings all work together, as the body of Christ (The Church), this is where all the solutions to life issues, no matter what they are, are found.

Economics- Acts 2:43-47
Politics- I Samuel chapter 8 (Choose Christ as King)
Social- Acts Chapter 2; James 2:8
Individual- With mountain moving faith, we can overcome anything. Study the Word of God.
"Kingdom of God is within you"; " I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me".

Be blessed, in Christ,
Pastor Mike Miano

"Kingdom Power"

2009-01-04T14:41:00.000-08:00

Recognize your calling and talent in and for the kingdom of God + All the believers coming together to build up the Kingdom (The Church) = The Power of God (Kingdom Power).

We have been given all authority in the name of Christ, so its obvious that as believers it will be expected of us to use this power, thus acting as ambassadors of the Kingdom of God and Heaven. This is what we will be judged on (If we search ourselves and recognize the calling and talent given to use for the benefit of the Kingdom of God, and how we operate in the calling). Read Matthew chapter 25.

I truly believe as my studies have led me, that seeking first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness is our solution to every problem out there. Its through this that we can truly live abundant lives of answered prayer, purpose, and vision!

May God bless you with the knowledge and purpose in His kingdom!
Pastor Michael Miano

Tough times calls for more understanding..

2009-01-03T18:38:00.000-08:00

Greetings in Christ...It has been a while since I have posted a blog, I apologize to my committed bloggers. The goal was to make this a daily or weekly blog, but the times have not permitted this.
I will be working toward making more posts, and updating daily if I can.
Well, it doesn't take a genius to see the times, and although I usually would make a post about the end times or the Kingdom of God, as our focus, I am going to divert a bit (in some sense), to make a point, although rest assured it is Kingdom oriented and principled.
WE ARE IN SOME ROUGH TIMES! Well said? So many people I know are depressed, either about economy issues, personal issues ( I have noticed serious amounts of relationship issues), and emotional issues. How can we make it through? I am a firm believer that most of our issues come from a lack of knowledge and understanding. As the Lord says "My people are destroyed for their lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6)".
I've been doing alot of reading and studying, (as most of you who know me, thats nothing new). I wanted to share some thoughts from my studies.
First comes from a portion in the book I am reading titled "The Final Quest" by Rick Joyner. "At first we did not understand why the Father decreed that men would have to walk by faith, not beholding the reality and the glories of the heavenly realm, and suffering such opposition. But now we understand that through these sufferings their worthiness to receive the great authority they will be given as members of His own household is surely proven. Now this walk of faith is the greatest wonder in heaven. Those who pass this test are worthy to sit with the Lamb on His throne, as He made them worthy, and they have proven their love".
This clearly shows that the blessings and rewards are not quite understood right now, nor granted, but through patience, faith, endurance, and a spirit of overcoming, we will attain the greatest reward!
Another good piece to offer came from a study on worship I was doing. I came across the webpage of Matthew Redman (http://www.mattredman.com). It speak about Job and makes a great point, I will just copy and paste.
"Who could blame him really? In a matter of days Job had lost his fortune. His children had been suddenly taken from him. The pain from the boils that covered his skin must have been unbearable. All of it; his health, wealth, and family was gone. Job was not dead, but that was just a minor technicality. And so Job´s outburst is understandable, for deep suffering isn´t only looking for the pain to end, but for an answer to the question: ´Why me?´

´If I have walked with falsehood . . . and my foot has hastened after deceit, let Him weigh me with accurate scales and let God know my integrity . . (Job 31 v 5-6) Oh, that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me! And the indictment which my adversary has written . . . I would bind it to myself like a crown.´ (Job 31 v 35, 36b)

And how does God respond? He does not defend Himself. He does not explain Himself. God chooses to reveal Himself.

´Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it . . .(Job 38 v 12-13) Who has put wisdom in the innermost being or given understanding to the mind? Who can count the clouds by wisdom, or tip the water jars of the heavens?´ (Job 38 v 36-37)

When silence falls once again, Job finds that the answer to his suffering is not found by asking: ´why´ but by knowing: ´Who.´ It is not found in questioning God´s worth, but in seeing Him for who He is. God answers the problem of Job´s suffering with the grand and wonderful mystery of His power and presence. Job himself says as much:

´I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. (Job 42 v 2) I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You.´ (Job 42 v 5)

An unquenchable worshipper does not rely upon endurance, doctrine, or determination alone. An unquenchable worshipper returns again and again to the revelation of a God whose worth and whose love does not waver to spite our suffering. An unquenchable worshipper can sing then with Job perhaps one of the most profound lines in all of Scripture:

´The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.´ (Job 1 v 21)

Matt and Beth´s song ´Blessed Be Your Name´ focuses in on this scripture, and tries to give worshippers a voice to respond to God with praise, even in the painful times of life. Matt writes:

´I think we´ve received more personal testimony feedback from this song than any other. I have come across some of the harshest life circumstances I´ve heard of as people have emailed in their stories of how they´ve chosen to worship our amazing God even in some of the hardest times of life. More than anything, this reminds me of how much pain there is in the world, and about how important it is to be real, honest and true (yet always remaining reverent) in the worshipping church.´

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there´s pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I´ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name"

Blessed be the Name of the Lord. I hope and pray that this study helped you in some sort of way....
In prayer,
Pastor Michael Miano

Kingdom Building and Elections 2008

2008-11-03T18:18:00.000-08:00

So, ok Mike, how does elections pertain to kingdom building?
Actually, they go together very well.Its obvious that this election is a very trying one, an evil one to say the least. Now many people are awake that our options are very limited....so we must remember this quote: "When choosing between the lesser of two evils, we must remember we are still choosing evil".Ok, do Christian choose evil, EVER? nope! So obviously we must look to something else.Ok, so we know this, everyone is looking to this election as CHANGE. It is understandable if you look at the society we live in. It is very clear that we are headed for serious times, depression, etc..so yes, we want a solution.Now this is where our problem is. We are like the Israelites of old, when they had similiar problems, they looked to man (see, I Samuel chapter 8) Yes, I am talking about the scriptures that are in front of you every Sunday.Are we dumb, deaf, and blind?We know the solution..It is outlined: II Chronicles 7:14Now, kingdom building. If we the Church would focus on our foundation, Jesus Christ the Word, and followed Him and Head, and heeded His instruction. We will see we have the solution in the Kingdom. We must come together.
Heed the Call "Come out from amongst them".Lets turn to God in 2009!

God bless in Christ,
Pastor Michael Miano

http://www. frontline. org. za/articles/if_my_people. htm

Preaching the Kingdom (Part 1)

2008-10-22T17:05:00.000-07:00

Almost everyone believes in a "god" in their own rite. Some believe in the muslim tradition of allah, some believe in a higher power with no name, some believe in many "gods", even atheists and humanists alike believe in a "god" in which is deemed themselves. So what does this have to do with the kingdom? Everything. From the outset it must be understood that God is the Ruler, Creator, and King of all. Now this was and is the God of Israel. The God that was spoken about in the ancient scriptures by the Israelites. (Psalm 103:19; Psalm 145:13, just to name some about the Kingdom). Now that we establish the Ruler of the Kingdom, we must look to the citizens, which are the Israelites, and in better understanding, those in Christ; thus Christans. We are the Kingdom people. How did we or how do we become citizens of this kingdom? Adam and Eve were the first citizens born into this Kingdom, which was a Kingdom of love and communion with God. The story told to us in Genesis 1-3, explains how God created Adam and Eve as His people, but they failed to follow the law, which was love for God and for one another. They failed to listen to God which led to their fall. And, to sum it up, now all mankind has inherited the curse from the first Adam. So, throughout the Word of God we read how God foretold that the time would come when Satans' dominion and control through the curse, that we basically asked for, would come to and end. First, God would bring His people back into communion with Him, but first they must be shown that they have fallen (thus we have the Law (Galatians 3:24). But the Law cannot produce or revive the spirit of Love that we once had, so God promised He would re-establish that (Isaiah 9:6). Thus comes Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And if we can understand the titles of Lord and Savior, we can understand why this Christ was prophesied. Christ came and preached " The time is fulfilled: the Kingdom of God is at Hand", thus the time has arrived that God has established his communion with His people through Jesus Christ, and we are brought back into glory as Kingdom people. This is the "Gospel = Good News". (Luke 4:18-19). Now we can rest assured that Our God Reigns (Isaiah 52:7). The Gospel of the Kingdom through Jesus Christ is that our God is not "a god" afar off, or with no connection to us. Our God is King, and he rules in righteousness, he delivers His people from sin and destruction, and reveals His glory and righteousness to them. May God keep the thoughts of His Kingdom in your heart, Michael Miano
This excerpt below was copied from (desiringgod.org)
So here is my conclusion from today. The "gospel of the kingdom" was foretold in the Old Testament, preached by Jesus—brought by Jesus!—preached by the early church, and should be preached by us until all the peoples hear it. This gospel of the kingdom is the good news that, at the coming of Jesus, God moved into this world in an unprecedented way. Since Jesus has come, God is exerting his right to rule in new and powerful ways. He is attacking his enemy the devil in new ways. He has dealt with sin in a new way. He is gathering a people in a new way. He is empowering his representatives in new ways. And in all this he is reigning as king. This is the coming and the advancement of his kingdom.
And this is good news. It is the gospel of the kingdom. Therefore let every one of us turn from every other claim on our allegiance and surrender to the King of kings. Let's repent of all rebellion and treason, accept the terms of his amnesty, and let's put our trust in the King of glory

Recognizing the Kingdom Within...

2008-10-18T17:07:00.000-07:00

Well, first and foremost, thanks be to the Almighty God who strengthens us day by day through the blood of Christ. Second, I would like to thank my dad for giving me insight into writing this blog. Now, when my father had brought up this topic, I wanted to have strong confirmed answers, (most of you who know me, know how i feel about being the "man with the answers" :)
So now, we have some questions that need to be asked and answered from within so that we can identify the kingdom within.
Who are we? Well, we know that through the redemption of the cross and the blood of Jesus Christ, we are know Gods' children, and we have been born again and received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is Christ within us ( Ezekiel 36:26-27; Galatians 2:20; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 4:22-24). So that leads us to ask, what exactly is Christ doing within us? Thus, comes the scripture "The kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21)". Christ is continuing to build the kingdom in and through us. We demonstrate the power of Christ on Earth (John 17:18; 20:21; Luke 10:19, Mark 6:7).
So I would venture to say that to RECONIZE THE KINGDOM WITHIN would be to clearly understand what Jesus Christ was saying in Matthew 16:19. What are the keys of the kingdom in which Christ gave to us?
WE are told in Hebrews 11:1 what the key is an that being Faith! Jesus said "What you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven, and what ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven", this tells us we have the Power through the Spirit of God to ACT!
THIS IS TRULY RECONIZING THE KINGDOM WITHIN!
READ: II Corinthians 3:6 , 2 Peter chapter 1; Revelations 1:5,6
In Christ, Mike Miano

Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand...

2008-10-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

This is the message Christ preached when He came...this is so important..This keeps us focused and ever vigilant..Christ message wasnt all about restoring the relationship of man and God, but rather the end of things. Our hope rests in the end..
Scriptures pertaining to the Kingdom: Matthew 3:2; 4:23; 7:21; 9:55; 10:7; 12:28; 13:11. 19, 24-52; 16:19; 22:2; 24:14; 25:1, 14, 34; 26:29
Mark 1:14, 15; 4:11; 9:1; 10:14; 15:43
Luke 4:43; 8:1,10; 9:2; 10:9,11; 12:31-32; 16:16; 17:20-21; 21:31; 22:16
Acts 1:3; 8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:31
Romans 14:17
I Corinthians 4:20; 6:9-10; 15:24, 50
Galatians 5:21; Ephesians 5:5
Colossians 1:13; I Thessalonians 2:12
II Thessalonians 1:5; Hebrews 12:28
James 2:5
II Peter 1:11
Revelation 1:9; 12:10

Let these scriptures be a lesson learned...
May God bless your reading of His Word,
Mike Miano

THE STORM WARNING

2008-10-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, so many of you already know that the Tribe of Dan Ministry is focused on the times that we are in and the times ahead. This also being what Jesus Christ was constantly focused on, aswell.
Brother Paul made a good point the other evening..We have been focusing on warning about the storm so much, that we have allowed ourselves to be swayed away from focusing on preparing for the storm.
Alot of people are now awaking, due to the recent events (odd legislation, bail-out, etc). Alot or organizations have been so focused on waking up the masses and no one was providing solutions, it has been driving us crazy, because we see no effort being done to organize and keep the masses focused.
SO BROTHERS AND SISTERS, WE HAVE A LARGE AWAKENED MASS TO THE STORM, NOW WE MUST ORGANIZE AND NETWORK, THAT WAY WE CAN SURVIVE THE STORM AND NOT SUFFER LOSS.
Look Foward to hearing from you,
God bless
Mike Miano

Kingdom Building

2008-10-11T14:55:00.000-07:00

Greetings in Christ, my beloved.
This blog post, will be our discussions and my thoughts aswell as the ministry on Kingdom Building. It seems like many say, "this is what we should be doing" or "this is what "our church" is about". But are we really building up the Kingdom of the Lord?
Obviosly we must correctly identify what and where this kingdom is..And this will we accomplish through this blog.
Anyways, the purpose of this blog is to voice my concern for the church in our lacking understanding of this very important principle.
TO MAKE A VALID POINT....WE SEEM TO BE RECRUITING FOR THE KINGDOM JUST FINE AS FAS AS OUR EVANGELICAL EFFORTS, BUT THEN WHAT. YOU DONT JUST RECRUIT PEOPLE AND HAVE A KINGDOM, YOU MUST ORGANIZE AROUND THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE KINGDOM, IN OUR CASE THIS BEING CHRIST JESUS.
So, this blog will be a study of the true Kingdom Building..
in Christ,
Mike Miano