Andrew Murray
And God Created Woman
Difference between Anabaptists and Evangelicals
Kingdom
Mysteries
Part 1
Part 2
Anabaptist
Voice
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Sermons by Eli Hofer
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The Writings of Ulrich Stadler
Volume 1
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The Anabaptist Voice
03/04/2009
Proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God: Love, Joy and Peace in
Jesus.
Dear friends,
Warm greetings to you from Arizona where we have a bit above normal
temperatures, in the low 80s. We pray you are protected by the grace of our
Heavenly Father and resting in the love, joy and peace that He gives to His
children.
Last Sunday, on the way to the church, Michi was feeling somewhat down.
As is our custom during the 30 minute drive, Naomi led us in singing praise
songs. Michi was so strongly touched by the first song that 
tears
started to come as she was singing praise. That was what she needed. Thank
you, Lord. Here is a photo of Michi on the Wii Fit board doing an exercise of
trying to get the balls to fall through a hole by adjusting her balance on the
Wii Fit board under her feet which tilts the board on the Wii Fit screen holding
the balls. There are a dozen or so Wii Fit exercise games like that. Naomi is
at work on the computer writing a children’s story. The other photo shows an
amazing work that Michi’s mother did when she sewed a picture of a dog,
using only a sewing machine! It must have taken a long time do that that fine
work. She was quite young at the time.
Last Thursday was our son David’s birthday. We pray God can keep him in
His care and keep his job. We heard that Microsoft is cutting down 5000
people. Yesterday Michi took Naomi to a stomach doctor. Naomi is doing better,
her stomach ulcers are cured. Thank you for praying for her.
Michi and Naomi went to Linda Dowdle’s house again on Monday to attend the
weekly ladies worship meeting. We thought about who Jesus is, and how we are to
live.
“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who,
although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing
to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being
made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled
Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
(Philippians 2:5-8)
Don is kept busy with our medical billing software business. He had 14
telephone calls to handle on Tuesday plus 4 e-mails! He enjoys working on with
the Wii Fit exercise system.
The SHAPE Class
After last Sunday morning’s Vineyard church service, we attended a
Vineyard class called “SHAPE - Discovering Your Ministry” at Elizabeth Willott’s
house. There were 11 people there plus two instructors. It is a very
interesting class, designed to help each one see more clearly their mission in
life. One thing we learned that amazed us was that the Vineyard church expects
the pastor to be a life coach, an encourager, a servant and not the head of the
church. We all are to be servants if we want to be a follower of Jesus. We
want to do what our Heavenly Father wants us to do.
Part of the discussion in the SHAPE class was about unusual events that
occur in our life. Was it our natural ability that caused it or was it a
supernatural action of the Lord God? That takes some thought. How close is God
to me? Who gets the glory for it?
Our homework for this week is to take three personality tests on the
Internet. A personality test aims to describe aspects of a person's
character that remain stable throughout that person's lifetime, the individual's
character pattern of behavior, thoughts, and feelings. There are a number of
these tests on the web. The three were chosen by one of our instructors who
is a teacher at a local college.
And then the other part of our heavy homework this week is to answer a
125 question test about our spiritual gifts, such as "I have enjoyed relating to
a certain group of people over a long period of time", answer yes, no, a little
or a lot. The test is called the Wagner-Modified Houts Questionnaire.
Very challenging.
Mormon Missionaries
Last week we had three young Mormon missionary ladies, women in their
20s, come to our home and spend a couple hours with us, trying to convince us
that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. They came back two days later with a
Mormon elder, a man who lives near by, and spent a couple more hours with us.
They want us to pray and ask our heavenly Father if the Book of Mormon is valid
which we will not do. The next day they came back again with an older couple to
help them. The man was married three times and the woman twice. Two days later
one of the Mormon missionaries came again, this time with a young married Mormon
woman who has six children. We are blessed by their love for the Lord Jesus but
we question the validity of their leader Joseph Smith and his 30+ wives, some of
them teenagers, most with previous husbands.
“Do you not know that the wicked will not
inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral
nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual
offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers
will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Cor 6:9-10)
“Marriage should be honored by all, and the
marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the
sexually immoral.” (Hebrews 13:4)
Water and Spirit Baptism
The 16th century Anabaptists taught about the threefold
baptism: a baptism of the Spirit, of the water, and of the blood, usually in
this order. They believed that water without Spirit baptism was nothing. Peter
Riedemann wrote in 1540:
“Jesus Christ said to Nicodemus that the new birth takes place by water
and spirit. He put the water first because Nicodemus already knew John's
baptism with water. John with his teaching and baptism was a forerunner of
Christ.
“Christ also put water first because baptism by water is a killing and
dying of the old man, that is, of the sinful nature. It is through it that we
become conformed to the death of Christ. But the death of the old man is not
enough. One must become alive again. Becoming alive can take place only
through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
“Nothing can be made alive again except it dies first. Sinners cannot
receive the Spirit of God. Therefore the baptism of repentance -- water baptism
-- must first take place so that believers may be baptized with the Spirit.
“Just as John was a messenger and a forerunner of Christ, so is water
baptism a forerunner of the baptism of the Spirit. John taught and preached
before he baptized. In the same way, teaching and preaching must still precede
water baptism.” (From The Secret of the Strength. Peter Riedemann spent
nine years in prison because of his Anabaptist missionary activities.)
Community with Christ
Following Christ, for the Anabaptists, is much more
than obeying His commandments. It is much more than confessing Him publicly or
being willing to die for Him. It is knowing Christ, and living like the first
disciples in full community with Him. Peter Rideman wrote in chains from his
dungeon in the castle at Wolkersdorf, in Hesse, Germany in 1540:
"We come to take part in the grace of Christ through faith, like Paul
says: "Christ lives in your hearts through faith.” Such faith comes from the
hearing of the Gospel preached. When we listen carefully to the Gospel and
conform to it, we come to take part in the community of Christ, as may be seen
in the words of John: "What we have seen and heard we declare unto you, that you
may have community with us, and our community is with God the Father and with
His son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who has given us all things that He heard and
received from His father" (1 John 1:3).
"Community is nothing else than to have all things in common with
those to whom we are inwardly bound. It is to keep nothing for ourselves,
but to share all that we have with others -- like the Father keeps nothing for
Himself but shares all that He has with the Son, and like the Son keeps nothing
for Himself, but shares all that He was with the Father and with those in
community with Him.
"Those in community with Christ
follow His example and keep nothing for themselves. They hold all things in
common with their Teacher, and with all those who belong to His community, so
that they may be one in the Son, as the Son is one with the Father (John
16:13-15).
"This is called the ‘community of the holy ones’ because we hold in
common holy things: the things through which we were made holy in the Father and
in the Son. The Son makes us holy through what He gives us. In this way
everything serves to the advantage and building up of one another, and to the
praise and glory of God.” (From The Secret
of the Strength.)
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you. (2 Cor
13:14)
your brother and sisters in Christ,
Don, Michi & Naomi Murphy
Tucson, AZ, phone 520-297-1639
www.AnabaptistChurch.org
"Do not store up wealth on earth… You can not
serve both God and mammon.” (Mt 6:19)
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