The Father's Heart Toward Us pt2

In part one we looked at the issue of identity and how the enemy's sole intention is to get us to doubt our true identity as sons and daughters of the Most High God. The key to combating these lies is to anchor ourselves in the truth of what the Father has and continues to declare over us as His children. These statements are found both in the written Word and also by hearing the spoken word of God (see Romans 10:17). It's the word of God that produces faith - namely belief and trust - in who God is, what He says, and in this case, what He's speaking over us about who we really are in Him. These declarations of truth are what will shape our identity and true sense of self-worth, value and esteem as we agree and accept who and what He says we are.

In this article, I want to focus on the issues of approval and acceptance. The truth is there is nothing we can do to make God love us more than He already does. It comes down again to a matter of faith in believing that we're loved by God, no matter what, and learning to live loved in every dimension of our lives. 

To grow up in this worldly system is to have been raised in a performance based society. In this realm, success and reward determine the value of a person.  Right from our first day at school as bright eyed and bushy tailed six year olds, through to young adults graduating from university we are conditioned and judged according to our performance. Academic results can have a huge bearing on our relative ‘success’ in life and also our sense of identity. 

Those who excel in this realm are generally rewarded with better jobs with higher salaries which means bigger homes and more stuff. Such rewards can even lead to influential positions in government. The danger of course is that this stuff can lead toward a false sense of internal value, an identity grounded in works.  It might sound something like this - "Hey look what I’ve done and became. Look at what I've achieved and look what I’ve got to prove it." In this mindset, a sense of identity is connected to external factors like position, title, status, our bank accounts, where we live and car/s we drive, size of house, possessions, school our kids go to, our 'influential' friends, size of share portfolios - the list goes on and on....

But the underlying issue with this mindset is when is enough, enough? 

Taking this performance-based mentality into the workplace, shareholders expect their corporate CEO’s to perform in order the raise their share prices - because a higher share price is linked to them leading a more 'successful' life.  In the sporting arena, fans expect their team’s coach to win at all cost. So what happens when the CEO fails? What happens when the coach can’t win a game? Inevitably, they are fired for their lack of performance and a better CEO or higher credentialed coach is employed to improve the bottom line. And so it goes, hiring and firing all based upon performance and success.

Failure can mean disqualification, dismissal, embarrassment and hardship that can initiate an internal dialogue where people begin to question their personal value, “I’m not good enough”… “I’m stupid” … “I’ll never amount to anything…”

The same is said for those who have followed all the rules in order to gain acceptance from those around them. It might be your parents, your peers or the ‘significant others’ in your life. The acceptance merry-go-round is one where we begin to place our sense of worth on who we know, who we ‘roll with’, who we’re associated with. Being part of the ‘in crowd’ means we accepted or we’ve achieved something. We can begin to follow a line of thinking that shapes our language, our appearance and even our interests all in the hope that if I can please so-and-so, I might be accepted; therefore I feel a sense of value or worth now.

The problem with that line of thinking is, what happens if you can never meet the mark? This is all about pleasing man, which is not really based in reality. Rather it’s based on a perception generated from deep within – a place of insecurity.

When we question our sense of identity or self worth, our internal world is in danger of being eroded. Worse still, we have the potential of denying ourselves of who we truly are, all in a vain attempt to became something we’re not simply to make someone else happy. This is a dangerous tightrope to walk as it is always worried about what someone else thinks of us.

Wayne Jacobsen in his book, He Loves Me calls this tightrope the favor line, an “invisible line that tells us whether or not we’ve met someone’s expectations in order to merit their approval" (Jacobsen 2007:45).

We’ve all been there, living from a place of either above or below the favor line. Whether it’s meeting our parent’s approval by being a good boy or girl at home, to sitting up straight and being quiet in class, to bringing home a good report card, putting in long hours at work, doing what we think someone else wants us to do, being whatever to all men in order to have friends, we’ve all been subject to this invisible line.

Because we’ve been so conditioned in this world of the favor line, even when we accept Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, we carry this paradigm into the new Kingdom realm as a byproduct of the years we’ve spent under the perils of ‘this present evil age.’ When things go bad, we begin to ask questions like,

·      Does God love me?

·      Am I good enough for God?

·      Why is it that when I’m giving and being a good Christian, my finance are sliding?

·      Why are my kids sick?

·      How come when I pray for the sick nothing happens?

·      Why didn’t I get that promotion?

·      Why did Joe die?

Usually these questions are a sign in our distorted thinking that we’ve slipped below the favor line. Our internal dialogue continues to pose questions like:

“I mustn’t be doing enough for God. I’ve slipped in His approval of me. What can I do to get above the line so I’m worthy of being blessed again?”

And so the performance merry go round continues. We begin to engage in 'Christian disciplines' in order to get above the line in order to turn everything around. We might even make internal deals with God...

"I’ll pray more. I’ll read my bible more. I’ll go on a mission trip. I’ll give more. I’ll go to church more. Surely if I do more, God will be happy and He’ll now have give me what I want. He’ll reward my good performance." 

That’s how it works isn’t it? And the enemy, the accuser of the brethren, doesn't need anymore ammunition when we've given him a foothold with that mindset at work. In fact we actually give him an increased authority in our lives as we agree with his lies.

But what happens when despite all of our best efforts an dintentions, nothing in our immediate circumstances changes for the better? (At least in our understanding of what’s better.)

Thankfully the Father is on a relentless mission to bring us from darkness into light and release us from the bondage of the philosophies of this world and lead us into the realm of Heaven. 

Consider the following verses that reveal Heaven’s eternal truth and Father’s love, approval and acceptance of us:

What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it - we're called children of God! That's who we really are. (1 Jn. 3:1 The Message)

Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. What pleasure he took in planning this! He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people--free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free!

He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth. (Eph. 1:4-10 The Message)

God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him. (Rom. 5:8 The Message)

So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of His grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all He has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. (Eph. 2:7-8 New Living Translation)

Personal Reflection

Take a moment to ponder the following questions:·

• Where do you feel you walk the tightrope of the favor line in your relationship with God? Have you ever felt guilty for not doing enough?
• Have you ever felt disappointed with God’s love for you?  
• Ask God to reveal where you have been trying to earn His favor? 
• Ask Him to help you see how much delight He takes in you as a loving Father. 

This isn't a one-off dose of goodness. It is intended to be a continual action of allowing the love of God to invade every cell and fibre of our being and to allow the beauty of His love and wonder to re-wire  our thought processes. As we meditate daily on His truth, we'll became everything He desired for us to be when we were formed by Him, even before the foundations of the world to be the direct target of His eternal love and unconditional affection.

Our belief systems are not just built on what we've heard, but by what we are hearing, i.e., our listening and responding to what the Father is saying now about us.

What is the Father saying to you right now?

The Father's Heart Toward Us pt1

Over the coming weeks I would like to begin discussing the topic of the Father Heart of God.

It's a subject I'm currently leading at Holy Fire School of Ministry Logan Campus. It's our desire to not simply attain a head knowledge and be able to say by rote, 'Yes, God loves me.' Such information without a corresponding experience becomes dead weight instead of living reality. Rather this is a potentially life transforming process that will provide everything you need to sustain you through every season of your life.

This opening paper is concerned with the issue of identity and the enemy's plan to erode your sense of self and identity in God. The key to combating this erosion is to meditate on what God is saying about us instead of the ambiguous loaded questions of the enemy.

The enemy’s sole purpose is to try to separate us, to disconnect us and use lies and loaded half truths to cause us to doubt the lavish love Father God has for us. He will use any method available to this end, even ministry activity or ‘church’ itself to distract and begin driving a wedge between you and your heavenly Father. 

The ambiguous question that he used to confront Eve in the garden in Genesis 3 ‘Did God really say..?’ if entertained has great potential to derail your life, your self-esteem and your perception of who Father God is and what He is really like. And you soon realise the enemy needs no encouragement in leading you down this road of questioning God, His will for your life, His prophetic promises declared over you, your family and circumstances and His affections toward you when things feel like they've turned south.

The solution to combating such lies is truth. It is truth that sets captives free. Lie and half truths only cause most people to turn inward looking for solutions to problems they will not find internally. Half-truths are probably the most dangerous. Remember, the enemy comes parading as an angel of light whose sole purpose is to deceive people by starting an enticing argument to lead people away from God and His truth. The enemy used a half-truth in the garden, but twisted it to meet his own agenda - to separate Adam and Eve from God and cause them to question God's nature, character and desire for their lives.

The key is using the Word of God as a sword to separate truth from falsehood. What God says is perfect truth and perfect theology. Because we are His delight, the apple of His eye, His desire is always concerned with our best interests. Our self awareness and identity must be grounded in who He says we are in His sight as His children born now of Spirit and not flesh.

His words are spirit and they are life. He is not a man that He should lie. God has no desire in boosting our ego or inflate a false sense of self worth or value with a string of 'Christianese buzz words' to numb any internal pain we might be carrying.

Rather, in the flow of divine love being declared over us, a deep transformation begins to take place in our inner man when we begin to receive and believe God's revelatory truth concerning our identity and value according to how He sees us. In time this truth will manifest in how we speak, act, minister, love and relate to others, including ourselves. 

Prayerfully consider the truth of these statements: 

For the Father so loved you that he gave his one and only son. The primary purpose for this gift was that you would never ever feel separated or abandoned by God again. The giving of the son was an open invitation for you to step in and experience the extravagant love and acceptance of the most loving person in all of cosmic history.

This extravagant love has been directed toward you since even before the foundations of the world, even the universe itself. This love has never been based on how good you’ve been, how well you’ve done or even how successful you’ve been. It’s simply been based on the source itself – the embodiment of pure, unselfish and unconditional divine love.

What lies have you been believing concerning the love of the Father towards you? The enemy tends to come at us with statements, "You're not good enough; You're not a good enough christian; You haven't done enough; You need to give more, pray more, read more, go to church more; You're not worthy of God; You'll never make it; You're just a sinner; Did God really say?...."

Take some time right now to reject these thoughts and any others the Spirit of God will reveal to you as you wait on Him. Invite Father God to whisper His sweet truths into your soul. These words will become the fuel that will sustain you throughout your days.  

Meditate on these verses:

Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture . .. None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing - nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable - absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. (Rom. 8:34-39 The Message)

Remember, God not only loves You, He really likes You too.

Be blessed and thanks for reading.

Marty

Coming In, Going Out: An Apostolic Base

One of the things the Lord has positioned us for here at KLC is to be a people who come in and go out. Coming in involves getting personally re-invigorated through worship, the Word, prayer, ministry and fellowship. Here we seek to be equippers of the saints to do the work of the ministry and it serves as one of the main reasons for our gathering together each week, be it in church, home groups or in the Ministry school.

The Apostle Paul instructed us that we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:18). This means to be filled and to be continually filled with the Spirit. It is not meant to be a once and for all prayer. You may have received a once off prayer for the baptism of the Spirit, but this baptism is intended to be repeated over and over again. I can say that because St. Paul said it, Jesus did it and because it is also in Baptist heritage. The Anabaptists or Re-baptizers believed converts needed to be baptized again as a result of a personal conviction and voluntary decision to follow Jesus. Some of these forefathers believed so strongly in this principle they literally lost their heads over it.

It is worth noting the purpose of the repeated infilling of the Spirit is not just to 'speak in other tongues.' The primary purpose was for boldness, for a supernatural ability to preach, minister, perform miracles, signs and wonders that ushered in the presence of God in such a manifest way that literally thousands could get saved in a day. Consider Peter, the man who once disowned Jesus after being challenged by a servant girl who after the glorious infilling of Acts 2, saw thousands respond to his bold preaching and declarations of Jesus. Another example is Jesus himself who after being baptized by John in the Jordan, returns from forty days in the wilderness baptized with power from on high to preach and teach a message of repentance and demonstrate the reality of God’s kingdom accompanied by miracles, signs and wonders (Lk. 3:21-22; 4:1, 14-15). It happened through out the book of Acts, been repeated throughout church history in numerous revivals and awakenings and even in modern day expressions of the kingdom.

We need to be continually filled because, as Bill Johnson puts it, we leak. Any time we minister we are leaking the presence of God. Our treasure is held in cracked pots, clay vessels that leak. Jesus himself needed to withdraw at times to be refilled and refueled during his times of prayer on the mountain with his father following his ministry among the hungry and thirsty, both in the natural and the spirit.

Since we have been filled and are continually being filled, we now have something to offer the world and that is where the going out comes into play. If we do not release the fresh infilling of the Lord, we became like the Dead Sea, a body of water that has an intake, but no output. Jesus himself said the Spirit is a river, a stream of living water (Jn. 7:37-39). It is not a lake. Stagnant water is no good to anyone. It smells bad, harbors diseases and is impure. You might be able to float in it but it will not take you anywhere. Living water is fresh, powerful, useful and when it is moving can take you to places without any of your own efforts. You get in the flow and go, go, go!

Over the coming weeks, several of us will be going out. Paul is going to Malaysia for a couple of weeks of mission, Belinda is going to Indonesia and yours truly will be traveling with the Australian Revival Conference Tour.

I have the great opportunity to be playing again with powerful and anointed worship leaders such as Catherine Mullins from the Lakeland Revival and Ben Hughes from Pour it Out Ministries. Together with other like-minded musicians we'll experience the tangible presence of the Lord as we release prophetic worship, music, art and song.

These meetings will also see the joining together of several Revivalists such as David Tomberlin, Joshua and Janet Mills and Chris Harvey who all long to see a move of God break out in this nation.

So if you are going to any of these meetings I would love to meet you. I'll be the guy holding the guitar.

For more information of these meetings go to http://http://www.davidtomberlin.com/itinerary/conferencedetails.aspx?id=49

Written by Marty Mitchell. Marty is the Associate Leader and Worship Pastor at Kingdom Life Centre Park Ridge, Queensland, Australia and Principal of Holy Fire Ministry Training School Logan Campus.

Performance - A Dirty Word?

Is performance in worship wrong? I'm sure many of us are familiar with Kierkegaard's famous quote "we perform for an audience of one" and that one of course is God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The majority of us engaged within the worship ministry, be at church, cell groups, schools, bible colleges, wherever we are in ministry, would agree that we are not doing this for ourselves, but for God. I'm sure many reading this do realise that we are not there to perform for our own ego's sake, attempting to 'WOW' a congregation with our extraordinary musical gifts, instrumental abilities or our vocal gynmastics. It's a real turn off when the worship leader, choir, band, music, song, sound, person, CD, recording artist, church, pastor, leader becomes the centre of attention and not the Centrepiece of Creation Himself.

But there still is an element of performance that I believe is necessary for us to embrace - authenticity. If we are not engaging with God sincerely and from a genuine sense of connection and relationship with Him, how can we expect our congregations to follow where we feel led to go? So, let me pose the question - do you believe in what you are singing about?

Great performers make you feel every word. They take you somewhere, untap emotions and stir passions from deep within. Energy, effort and preparation has gone into every word they sing in every song they perform. Keith Urban, the Aussie country music artist who has conquered the US market said he strives to make every word and every lyric that he sings to be full of meaning and sung from a genuine expression of his heart.

If we are striving to do that, then I propose we are on the way to leading our congregations in worship. The skill of the experienced performer is worthy of consideration – they believe what they are singing about.

As worshippers then do we really believe what we are singing about? Do we really believe in who we are playing for? Is the Word of God changing our worldview in such a manner that causes us to worship Him in fresh genuine and heartfelt expressions of praise and adoration? Is your worship whether private or public - your performance to 'The Audience of One' - sincere and genuine or has it became a matter of tapping to the rhythm and mouthing the words, singing the songs?

If it has become that, then we fall into peril, a people who worship with their lips but whose hearts are far away from the Lord. If that has become the case, then take some time right now to realign your heart and reorientate your gaze toward Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith.

Preparing to lead

Hi all. I recently had the priviledge to be part of the worship team leading at an event where speaker Jason Westerfield was ministering. The worship was electric and passionate with a heavy presence of God in the room. Jason shared some principles on the final night of the meetings concerning worship and how to effectively prepare ourselves for worshipping God. This information was shared with the whole congregation, around 400 people. We then entered into worship and it was an amazing time in the Lord, beyond the intensity of the previous two nights, which was already pretty high. I've shared these keys with my team here in my church and now make them available to the world :)

As with most things in the Christian life, we tend to overcomplicate things. The points outlined below are refreshingly simple. Maybe Jesus was onto something when he said we need to be child-like in our engagement with the Kingdom of God.

So, read on for some great tips in enriching your personal and corporate worship experience.

1. Envision yourself seated in heavenly places, at the right hand of God. That’s the location from where scripture teaches us we worship from. It is a place of divine favor, heavenly authority and power toward the earth. Our focus is to see heaven, where we actually are, come into the earth realm. Messes with your head? Yep, but that’s what the Word says. Set your mind on things above. Eagles don't hang out with chickens. Chickens are timid, skitish and scratch around the dirt for food. Eagles soar, are graceful, and have a broad perspective and focus on what's going on around them. They have focussed vision and pinpoint accuracy on where to expend their energy. When we function from a top-down rather than bottom-up orientation, we will be much more effective in our ability to engage with God in the spirit and see change take place in our personal lives, churches and regions.

2. Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart. Are there any issues that need to be resolved? If so, confess them, ask for forgiveness, receive forgiveness and get into right alignment with God. Worship is all about relationship - an individual relationship between you and God, as well as a corporate expression of relationship between a group of believers and God. Keep short accounts with people and with God. Jesus promised to be with us when we engage with people in this way. Confession removes any blockages and barriers that may exist between you, eachother and God and lightens the atmosphere by removing tensions that may exist around us.

3. Thank God. Two of the most powerful words in Christianese. Worship is an attitude of gratitude. We are to speak out of the overflow of our hearts. How full of thanks is your heart toward God? We are told to remember the Lord and forget not his benefits. Remembering his benefits and declaring them in thankfulness provides fuel for worship and praise. In praise we thank God not only for who he is, but what he has done, is doing, and is about to do. Think of ten things to thank God for right now.

4. Got any anxiety? Got any pressures or concerns that are weighing you down right now? Cast those cares upon Him. Hand them over to Jesus and ask for His burden. His yoke is easy and His burden light. He actually invites us to hand our stuff over to him. Jesus is more than willing and able to bear our burdens on our behalf. He bore the weight of the world's sin and rejection of God on his shoulders. Your bank account, your job situation, your family struggles are not big enough for him not to be able to deal with them. Hand those things over and release them into his care and oversight. A practical example I was once given is to blow those things into a balloon, tie it up and let it go. Release yourself from the weight of these issues and allow God to be your comfort, supply and provision. Seek first the Kingdom of God (see pt 1) and the cares of this world will turn strangely dim in the light of his glory, mercy and grace.

5. See pt 3.

6. Enter into some High Praise WOO HOO !!

A Little Pain for Long Term Gain

Recently at a family outing I was sitting with my youngest son Joel when I noticed he had a splinter in his foot. I asked him if it was hurting or sore. He said it didn't hurt and he hadn't been complaining about it. However on closer inspection I could tell it had been in there for some time owing to the redness surrounding the penetration point and it must have been bothering him at some stage. I took a closer look and tentatively started trying to remove the splinter. Focussed on the job at hand, I kept asking him, 'Does it hurt?' to which he kept saying, 'No.'

With a little effort the splinter was slowly coming out. I kept on going and asking him if he was OK. He kept saying he was. After a little more prodding and poking, I finally removed the broken tip of a thick Bouganvillea thorn - some 3-4mm long - out of his foot! I looked up at him to show him what was in his foot and saw for the first time the tears in his eyes caused by the pain of what I was doing to him. The poor kid must have been hurting but he never told me or let on. I said I was so sorry for causing him that pain and embraced him.

I was thinking about it later and saw the correlation between that incident and what God does for me. At times in my life, it is very painful. It seems like He is allowing or even inflicting pain on me at certain times. Jealousy and envy rise up and I feel overlooked and undervalued. I cry, feel hurt, get angry or lash out in frustration. Yet all the while God is pulling out the broken thorns in my heart that I cannot feel anymore, let alone remember, how or when that thing even got in there.

He goes to the source and not the symptons of my pain. With some precise poking and prodding God comes as a master surgeon with the sole intent of saving my life from these deadly thorns. I’m relieved when they are removed from my heart – oh the benefit of hindsight - but that extraction process sure hurts.

Jesus tells the story of God being like a gardener who prunes bushes in order that they produce the life He intended for them. He cuts off dead branches that bear no fruit, as well as pruning healthy branches so that they can produce even more fruit. It is in the midst of this pruning that He then calls us to abide, to remain in His presence.

This invitation to abide and bear the pruning is so that He can do what is required in us in order that we bear much fruit. The fruit is real life, the God-life. God's desire for us is to be so full of His life so we can release it to those we come into contact with. The fragrant aroma of this fruit then has the opportunity to touch and impact people's hearts with true reality. Mysteriously though, the call to abide is issued with His foreknowledge. It is inevitable that the pruning shears will cause pain as they are allowed to do their work in our lives.

What thorns need to be removed from your life? Are there any branches that need pruning? What about those old war wounds forgotten and hidden deep in your heart that a little prying or poking generate a little or maybe a lot of short term pain?

My Heavenly Father is such a good Dad. He is so loving and kind. He knows the beginning from the end and knows what is best for me. He does not want me to suffer from any wound, no matter how big or small, that left unattended has the potential to take me out. His desire for me is to experience and release real life.

Do I have the courage and the honesty required to let him do some digging in the garden of my heart so I may possess the abundant life Jesus offers and supplies? Will you surrender to the hands of the Master Physician? Will you trust the shears of the Skilled Gardener?

I pray for the grace to allow Him to remove the thorns so I can truly experience this God-life He so desires for me to live. A little pain for that long term gain is a small price to pay.

Levels

Do you remember the Seinfeld episode where Kramer enters Jerry's apartment describing his plan to remove all the furniture from his apartment and build levels? If not, here's the conversation:

KRAMER: I'm completely changing the configuration of the apartment. You're not gonna believe it when you see it. A whole new lifestyle.

JERRY: What are you doing?

KRAMER: Levels.

JERRY: Levels?

KRAMER: Yeah, I'm getting rid of all my furniture. All of it. And I'm going to build these different levels, with steps, and it'll all be carpeted with a lot of pillows. You know, like ancient Egypt.*

In light of this comment on levels, my family and I just saw the movie, "Space Chimps." One of the things I found interesting was that the chimps - and the aliens they visit - all could completely understand eachother; to their own ears they all spoke perfect english. But on another level, whenever the humans tried to communicate with the chimps, all they heard was the monkeys screeching!

In my musing on this subject, I find that certain people just get me. Elements such as shared experiences, common interests or simply good old fashioned time spent together all contribute to determining what level of understanding two people can walk in.

Now, I'm the first to admit I've got a long way to go in my ability to build meaningful relationships where we can begin and potentially continue to communicate at deepening levels of understanding that has moved beyond the screeching of simians and the confusion that brings to all concerned.

But I also discover that Jesus confronted his own disciples for their dullness of hearing, their lack of ability to truly hear him and simply not getting it (Mt. 16:15). Or, in continuing with the imagery, not being at the same level of understanding, seemingly not even possessing the ability to speak the same language or be on the same page he was on.

I'm encouraged by the fact that even considering my own lack of ability to hear and/or understand what Jesus says to me, I can rest in the promise that as one of the sheep he's left the flock to go after, I can recognise, hear and know his voice - even amidst the ranting of the chimpanzees.

In closing, let's go back to the wisdom that is Seinfeld. As the scene progresses we learn that all Kramer needs to complete the 'some big job' that Jerry's dad Morty chimes in with, Kramer is left severly wanting - his ambition and ability to complete the job do not marry up.

You see, I suffer from that to - my ideal overshoots my reality too many times. And yet there is Jesus, still walking with me and offering me the opportunity to share in the secrets he so willing reveals to those he calls 'Friend.' He is the open door, inviting me to come up to another level of understanding and comprehension and yet offering me the freedom to choose to enter in without any threat, imposed pressure or obligation....

Am I willing to go out and get the lumber to work on that job?

* (Source: http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/ThePonyRemark.htm. Cited 31 Dec. 2008)