Jesus in the Kitchen or What is God cooking up anyway?
Part One: The Pickle Recipe
Some time back I copied the following definitions from the On Line Bible program. This definition of baptism came with a very interesting word study that illustrates what God is about to do in the Church. There are two words closely related to baptism; Bapto and Baptizo.
quoted text---
baptizo {bap-tid'-zo}
1) to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of vessels sunk)
2) to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one's self, bathe
bapto {bap'-to}
1) to dip, dip in, immerse
2) to dip into dye, to dye, colour
Not to be confused with baptizo. The clearest example that shows the meaning of baptizo is a text from the Greek poet and physician Nicander, who lived about 200 B.C. It is a recipe for making pickles and is helpful because it uses both words. Nicander says that in order to make a pickle, the vegetable should first be 'dipped' (bapto) into boiling water and then 'baptised' (baptizo) in the vinegar solution. Both verbs concern the immersing of vegetables in a solution. But the first is temporary. The second, the act of baptising the vegetable, produces a permanent change.
When used in the New Testament, this word more often refers to our union and identification with Christ than to our water baptism. e.g. Mark 16:16. 'He that believes and is baptised shall be saved'. Christ is saying that mere intellectual assent is not enough. There must be a union with him, a real change, like the vegetable to the pickle! Bible Study Magazine, James Montgomery Boice, May 1989.
end of quoted text.
The interesting idea here is that union with Christ is what He requires and when this is real there will come a real, permanent change in us. Like the vegetable is radically transformed, well so must we be transformed.
All the great moves of God in the past have just been bapto's, temporary changes. The revivals of the past have had long term permanent effects of course but the awesome holiness, the irresistible power of the Lord has only lingered on for short periods.
Even this refreshing called the new wine or the river is just a bapto. A bapto is the ankle deep water of the river. the knee deep and waist deep, the chest deep water is still a bapto. At these levels you can always get back out of the water. When it gets over your head, it's baptizo. When you can no longer go on your own way, it's baptizo. When you have to change from walking to swimming, never to go back it's baptizo. It's a permanent change. It's the kingdom of God come into your life and you entering into the kingdom. Its the manifesting of the sons of God.
Like the pickle is changed, we will take on the texture, the color, the taste and the aroma of the Lord God of Heaven. We will be like Him because we will see Him as He is. The world will forget what we were like before because they will see Jesus in us.
Part Two: The Red Hot Sauce!
The Prophetic Necktie
One summer a few years back, I came across a pastor I knew and found him wearing a prophetic necktie. It seems that the McIlheny company of Avery Island Louisiana had marketed a series of new products to diversify advertise and to capitalize on the name of their Tabasco sauce. These included ash trays, coffee cups, napkins, towels, coasters and other house-wares; and neckties.
On this particular necktie you could see a bottle of the famous Tabasco sauce in the foreground and the night sky in the background. In the night sky there were 4 or 5 bright stars, and one of them was especially brighter than the others. Proceeding from this bright star was a ray of light that led directly to the Tabasco bottle. An interpretation instantly leapt to mind. So I told this pastor that his tie was prophetic and depicted the Bright and Morning Star [Jesus] sending down the Fire!
God's Hot Sauce
[reposted from an earlier article]
In South Louisiana a standard table item is the bottle of hot sauce. Several years back while applying this to some of my wife's home cooking, the Lord showed me a parallel between it and the church. This seemed good to share at this time, as I believe we are about to see it come to pass.
Hot sauce has three ingredients. Water, cayenne pepper and vinegar. And in these we can see a picture of the Church
Water represents the people of the Church. The pepper is the fire of God, or the anointing, and vinegar speaks of purging or cleansing. The vinegar is needed to keep the pepper mixed in the water.
The problem with this product is that if you let a bottle of hot sauce sit for a long time without using it the pepper separates out and floats to the top. There it forms a crust. Since the neck of the bottle is very narrow, it doesn't take much time before it is completely clogged. No hot sauce will flow if the neck is clogged.
This is like a church that has sat inside its four walls and did little or nothing to reach the outside world. It has become useless.
God is desiring to use his Church to bring in a great harvest of souls in these end times, but the church has become like that bottle of hot sauce; clogged up and useless.
Now imagine that the harvest is like a big plate of jambalaya. That’s a rice dish with chicken, shrimp, ham, pork or sausage; seasonings and spices all mixed in. And before you eat this jambalaya you want to spice it up a bit with some hot sauce!
Well before God can bring in His harvest, he has to pour out his fire on the world and get some people saved.
But the instrument intended for this, his Church, has become of little or no use! What will he do?
The same as I would do with a bottle of hot sauce which was clogged up. Shake it!
One shaking is never enough either; it takes repeated shaking to clear up the stoppage. And after each time you shake it you bring it very close to your face so you can see if you have cleared up the blockage. If it's not ready, you shake it again.
God is about to shake his Church. And with each shaking, we will draw it closer to Himself, examine it and judge it. And then shake it again till its composition is restored to usability. And all the little fragments have been put back into the mixture where they belong.
Then when he is ready, watch out world. His people will pour out of the old dead churches and astonish the world by showing them what Jesus is really like. They will be on fire for God and used mightily for His kingdom. Just like the burning bush, afire with the presence of God and not consumed.