-
The Boyz
The Original Ekklesia Gang
We Have Been Uniquely Designed
God has made us unique and it is that uniqueness that He wants in our walk with Him. He is not looking for clones, and He does not want to alter our personalities, nor does He want to process people through some mold. Sure God's probably looking to trash a few things in our personal lives, but what He's really searching for are those individual personalities who are willing to work it out, talk it out and walk it out. When I think of the original twelve, I can only imagine what it was like recruiting this motley bunch.
When I think of John, he strikes me as this peace, love, and Woodstock-type. If he had lived in the 1970s he probably would have driven a flowered Volkswagen van. A mellow laid back dude, deep thinker, probably one of those silent types. Then Jesus got hold of him and sent him even deeper. Well this silent one became one of the Sons of Thunder, so when peace, love, and Woodstock met the greatest love of all, one can only imagine the transformation.
Now on the other side of all this I see Peter. I picture him with some pretty rough edges. He strikes me as a Popeye, William Wallace type. He was probably the anchor of the fishing fleet. His men admired him; his brother followed him. He struck me as a kick the door down first, think about it later type of person. He was probably a type of who would lead the brawl, bodies flying all over, only to wake up the next morning trying to make sense of it all. Jesus saw in him the ability to stand for what he believed. The plan was to tweak it a bit.
So far I've only begun trying to figure these guys out and we've got Dr Love and Hulk Hogan. Let's take a look at Matthew. He reminds me of a chicken hawk and a government rat. A taxman who was despised by all. He probably knew and heard every sales pitch under the sun. If there ever was someone who walked in a false identity, this was probably the guy. He also knew how to save his bacon and how to doctor up the records. In his workplace he heard nothing but stories and he was probably a great storyteller himself, and then on one specific day the Real Story walked up to his tax table and said to him, "Come and follow me".
We now have Dr. Love, Hulk Hogan and the Government Rat. Now can you imagine these three guys in the same room? When you actually think about it, it would be hilarious. With Luke jumping on board, this motley crew had an opportunity to get balanced out. Luke was probably the only stable professional one out of the whole bunch. As a professional doctor he had to figure things out. As a humble educated historian traveler he's now stuck with the three amigos. Luke, being the professional, struck me as the one who probably asked all the right questions. As one who was in the healing profession he now got to hang out with the Greatest Healer of all.
Now Luke's educated cranium gets totally rocked when Simon the zealot shows up, Simon the Middle East extremist. This guy had one thing on his mind and that was to overthrow the Romans. Can you picture Luke and Simon having a conversation? His one-track mind probably got him into all kinds of arguments during the round table discussions. He most likely saw Jesus as the one who was finally going to rid the Romans from the neighborhood. But after all the inaugurations, these hard cases ended up with a great argument for the hard cases of the world.
Then there's Thomas, — imagine walking down the street with this guy. All you would hear is: 'I don't think so!', 'I doubt it!', 'Get out of town!'. Jesus probably had some serious one-on-ones with him. Then there were the young guns like John Mark who became known as a runner because when things heated up, — he'd bail. But in the end, John Mark was the go-between for Peter and Paul.
The bottom line is that Jesus picked out some people with amazing personality and he tweaked them a bit. He didn't clone them nor did he force them to express things a certain way. Ignited by heaven they creatively expressed the things of heaven in their unique ways. They all came to know a God that is very innovative, and in their individual ways they expressed the things of God. They may of been a motley and rejected bunch, but boy did they walk in power. Motivated by a God that was constantly on the move.
Now I’m convinced the game plan hasn't changed a whole lot for today. He's still on the move and looking for some very real and unique people. The times of Issachar are upon us and God is breathing a fresh new outpouring of the original Ekklesia!
It’s Time to Saddle Up Boyz!
-
EkklesiaRising.com / JesusMinistries.ca
