Bøker av Bob Mumford

Truth is often troublesome when encountered in the arena of life. Truth requires active pursuit. As followers of Christ, our life's journey is not an accumulation of facts and theories. We seek moral and spiritual alignment with reality in God.In this Plumbline, we explore five possible responses to the arena of truth. Through love and acceptance of truth, we experience the full extent of salvation. Truth contains the pathway to our freedom.

It is exceedingly critical for God's people, both corporately and individually, to understand where God intends to take us. If you have ever done a jigsaw puzzle you know it is wise to first find the border pieces and set them in place. The borders give us reference and boundaries, and the picture guides us toward our goal. The Father has called us toward goals that He is instituting through Christ. Though we yield, cooperate, and obey, these are his handiwork. They are apprehended over the course of a lifetime. His itinerary is customized for us individually. Like it or not, we are all in the arena of truth: a symbol of a certain amount of conflict. As we begin to comprehend and embrace truth, we begin to flow, cooperate, and enjoy the journey.

Our fellowship with God is dynamic and growing. We progress in obedience and intimacy as we are conformed to the image of the Son by Father's gardening. Even though relationally the Father always treats us as friends, the path to intimacy will only be realized as we are yoked with Him. God, as a Father is inscrutable-more vast than anything we could describe. Knowledge, doctrine, and information are helpful but are ultimately inadequate. How do we introduce the world to this authentic Father? We begin by inviting them into our living room. This is where we have learned to live fully human in the image of the Son. Here in us, the world will encounter the living Christ. His living Mind takes us to the Father.

What we believe about the purposes of God governs how we see and respond to the future. Our world is changing with increasing rapidity. We are God's love bringing healing to a hurting world. The incarnational reality of Christ in us is the goodness of the Kingdom manifesting through us. It is intentional. It is normal. This is how the Kingdom is supposed to work. We need to be about the business of bringing heaven back to earth.

Transition is different than change. Since the reformation, churches have gone through many changes, but their essential form and nature have stayed the same. I believe we now stand at a threshold, a transition. We are going to be faced with changes that cannot be avoided. They will demand critical decisions and spiritual maturity. How do we prepare? How must we adapt as we stand at this threshold? How will we know the difference between needed changes and biblical compromise? Being birthed into a new prospective is not easy, but it is essential if we are to grow and embrace the future with strength and clarity. The pain and pressure cause us to re-examine our foundational belief systems. We must be willing to let go of that which is passing away while we embrace the new threshold. Will we embrace that is more organic and relational? Will we embrace a Kingdom that more adequately expresses Father's purposes in the earth?

This Plumbline is the second in a series of 3 that explores how we may practically live and manifest the essence of God's Agape government in a post-Christian and hurting world. Jesus' "Follow Me" ignited a burning to leave everything and pursue something longed for but never known until Jesus. May we embrace and bring His Kingdom offer.

I am seeking to explore with you "that other god." Jesus personifies mammon making it equal with God as to its potential influence on our lives. We can only serve one god at a time; the governing influence of one negates the influence of the other. According to Jesus we must make a choice of which will be our decisive master.

It is a joy to introduce an innovative and fresh translation of the New Testament. It is not bound by overt doctrinal and denominational presuppositions. With great care and unusual boldness, this author, Francois du Toit who lives in South Africa, seeks to introduce us to the authentic Jesus Paul was seeking to make know to the Philippians

Time is Father's gift to the human race; it prevents everything from happening at once. Our growth allows us to see the issues more clearly. My intent in this Plumbline is to present 10 aspects of Kingdom truth that if properly engaged will bring life and progress.

We receive Christ out of personal need, inner hunger, and with the awareness that things must change in our lives and futures. The concept of conscious Fatherhood will enable you to abide. It is life changing, and will hold you steady in the most complex and difficult of circumstances.

When we speak of God as Reality, we use a capital "R". He is more than, greater than anything we have ever encountered. The fact is we need to become adjusted to and more comfortable with entering Reality. Father chose to become incarnate in the person of Christ in order for us to enter the Way He has provided so we could come to know Him.

"Abba Father" is a statement that moves us toward personal freedom. When we authentically love someone, our primary intent is to set them free. Father's forgiveness sets us free, giving us the internal capacity and desire to respond externally to God as a Father so we can hear His voice. To give us this freedom, Christ came to take us to the Father. Cultivating our relationship with Christ prepares us to more perfectly understand the Father. On the Cross, at the moment of His death, Jesus offered His Own human spirit to God the Father. Of course, all that Christ experienced and everything that occurred was born and facilitated by the Person of the Holy Spirit in preparation for this Eternal Lamb to be made a sin-offering, but He also gave up His Own human spirit. Christ has not only demonstrated His love for us, He has made intricate arrangements to participate with us, be present with us, and be our source of strength on our personal journey into God. In this Plumbline, Bob helps us get beyond our present application that Jesus' sacrifice was limited to our forgiveness. He gave Himself to us in every possible way-even in the complexities and crazies that life presents for the working out of our salvation. He gives Himself for us as the sacrificial Lamb of God. And, He gives His human spirit to us in order to conform us into the image of Himself.

Within the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit there is a circle of friendship between the Trinity and we are being invited into it. When Jesus started His journey with the disciples, one of His goals was friendship-He wanted to reveal Father's secrets to them. Before He could do that, He had to work them through a few "relational" problems like calling down fire on their enemies, competing for the best positions, self-confidence, fear of man, and betrayal. When they had learned their lessons, He began to reveal His heart to them, offering them a degree of intimacy that is difficult to grasp. Real friendship involves trust and intimacy, not over-familiarity. In this Plumbline, Bob gives us four ingredients common to friendship and to basic human need and shows us that if a relationship is always directed to you or from you, it is not reciprocal. God is calling us into a true friendship with Himself and with men and women in the body of Christ. Every one of us has developed elaborate escape mechanisms and use both self-protection and control as barriers to intimacy in our relationship with God, in our marriages, as well as in every other relationship. We know exactly what to do and say when the pressure is on. The only way we can experience intimacy is by acceptance. We must accept each other just like we are and choose to surrender self-protection and control. When we center our whole being on pleasing the Father, it radically affects our ethical and moral behavior. A vital aspect of our circle of friendship with God is waiting on Him. By waiting on Him we exchange our weakness for His strength. After a while, we come to a place where the poise of our soul is toward the Lord, and we can enjoy the Father's presence. Isaiah 40:31 says, "Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary."