I’m so happy that I finally got a somewhat coherent stuff put on this site, that I decided to update a new theme as well
So here’s Waterlily, enjoy 
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Ok, I just updated just about everything on the site… I also have it all in a single PDF -file. Ask if you like
Now we are talking. After some constructive feedback, I think I’m finally getting a grasp of what I want to say on this page. I’ve recently been working on a pretty much complete overhaul of the text in these pages and tried to compile it in a single document format. This would be the introduction chapter.
Project Diktuon is an effort to strengthen the network of mature Christians wanting to build the Kingdom of God in Europe.
Diktuon is the Greek word for net. It is used e.g. in Matthews 13:47-48 (NIV):
Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore.
The fish in this parable stand for people. The net pulls the fish closer to to God and closer to each other. And this is what Project Diktuon is about:
- Seek God’s people and bring them together.
- Create a critical density of these people.
- See what happens.
Critical density is different from the critical mass. It doesn’t have to be very much. It is having enough of high-quality material in a sufficiently small space. In this case it is having critically many critically high-quality Christians who are critically tightly connected to each other.
So Diktuon is essentially a social network of certain kind of people. While the network in itself is a totality, it can only be grasped from its knots, or nodes: the individual people. Thus, building the network is essentially building these relationships. Therefore Diktuon is about individual people being in contact with individual people, and Project Diktuon about strenghtening these existing relationships and building new ones.
I believe that when we earnestly seek God and His will and come together, He will let His creativity and power flow through us in countless ways. And I want to be advancing that. That’s what Project Diktuon is all about. And that’s why I created this site, Diktuon.net. Diktuon.net is an Internet platform to provide tools for unity, communication and co-operation for people, who are committed to build the Kingdom of God in Europe.
As I see it, three basic elements are needed for this. First, the people themselves. Second, the means for the people to communicate. Third, common values and policies to define who exactly should be involved and how to get along.
N.B. This site is at very early stages. Any kind of feedback is warmly welcome. Please use the blog.
People
Project Diktuon is about building unity and community of Christians. As Christians we are bound to Christ. And in Christ we are bound to one another. Yet we might not even know about each other. There may be people with similar issues on their hearts, who live fairly close by, but of whom we know nothing about. This is what Project Diktuon tries to address – strengthen our unity and improve our chances to meet one another in real life.
So who exactly should be involved? I don’t care if you are great or small. All I’m interested in is your heart and mind. Actually, I expect that most of you are plain nobodies, just like I am. On the other hand, much of what I’m about the say will be rejected by many who rightfully consider themselves Christians. I bless them too. May God guide their paths to walk on His ways.
What does a “mature Christian” mean? I’m not going to give a definition. At best I could try to describe, but even then I would probably miss it. Instead I have written some texts about beliefs and values I believe mature Christians would identify with. If you find that what I have said here reflects your heart and mind, you likely are the kind of person I’m looking for, and you should expect to find similar people.
On the other hand, Project Diktuon is not for everyone. If you find you cannot accept or commit to some of those, then this is probably not for you. Here are some more specific indicators that Project Diktuon might not be for you:
- You don’t believe Jesus Christ has died and resurrected, you are baptised in Him, your sins are atoned in His death and you are living a new life in His resurrection.
- You don’t live in Europe or are not interested in building the Kingdom of God in Europe.
- You are not ready to face your fellow Christians as fellow human beings, but insist on sticking to some role on either side.
- Your own denomination, nationality or race is so dear to you, that it prevents you from unity with other Christians.
- You do not want to do the will of God or want to do something that is against His will.
- You want to argue or have the last word.
While the values of authenticity, unity and obedience are something Project Diktuon tries to cultivate in its participants and I don’t think anyone is perfect in every aspect of them, they nevertheless are something that should define the network to begin with. We should not start from the scratch in any of the issues above.
Finally, I don’t expect to know many of you. In fact, initially very few of you. I expect that you know some each other. And that you know some like-hearted and -minded people from outside the community. And that you will bring them in to the community. And you will create new connections with other members. Creating a denser network.
A little word of encouragement (in a simple form such as interest) pays off: I finally managed to kick myself to finish this text. Evidently I was writing it as a reminder to myself…
As always, these are just some thoughts I have tried to put down and in some kind of order. I reserve myself the usual irrecoverable right to be wrong Feel free to comment on anything.
Next, I will give a pile of these text to my wife to be proofread and commented on. After that, I hope to be able to publish something more readable and dare to make more buzz about this site. Btw, we’ve talked about a Finnish translation too.
Anyway, here goes something:
It is the will of God that we do as He says. This is rather something He wants to cause us to do than what He asks us to do. He wants to exercise Himself His love and justice in this world through us. We cannot and deliver them by ourselves. Being obedient is surrendering to Him and allowing Him to work in us and through us.
Obedience is obedience to Christ and to God, who has given authority to Christ. Each of us needs to commit to be obedient for their own part, and trust others to do the same. Obedience is listening to God and doing His will, instead thinking ourselves what He might want and asking Him to bless that.
Christ is obedient to Father. As He gains room in our lives, we too become obedient to Father. To refuse to be obedient to Father and His will, is to deny Christ as a King. We need to submit ourselves to Christ both individually and as communities.
Our obedience grows in pace with our spiritual maturity. The more mature we are, the more room Christ has in our lives and the more mature we are. On the other hand, the more we surrender to Christ, or the more we choose to obey Him, the more room He gets in our lives and the more mature we become.
Spiritual growth is work of Holy Spirit. We cannot make ourselves grow. Trying to follow the commandments, to love God and one another, will not make us grow. What we can do is to surrender our hearts and minds to Christ. To love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength is to surrender all these to God and ask Him to do whatever it is He wants to do with them. Letting Holy Spirit speak to us in the Scriptures and mould our hearts will lead us to the desire to love one another. When we learn who we are in Christ, we will know how to live and what to do.
Obedience is priorities. When Christ gains room in our lives, His priorities become our priorities. Refusing to let our priorities change is rebellion. It is the will and work of God that He is our top priority. This is followed by our family and separating one day out of each week for resting. Then come the Kingdom and finally other things. As we surrender to God, He will transform our relationships to Him, each other and the creation into right order and develop them all in us. While the mentioned first priorities remain the same, the their application and following priorities are likely to vary from individual to individual and community to community.
Obedience is following the Law God has given. Not to gain something or as a response to something God has done for us, but because Holy Spirit has made it our heart’s desire. Holy Spirit will inscribe the commandments in our hearts. Submitting our hearts to God and His word, renders obedience into being true to our own heart. When our lives are changed, even the Jews will see that God is with us and believe. Therefore we need to encourage sound teaching, especially one exhorting us to freedom, purity and authenticity.
Obedience is courage. It is to obediently do the tasks God has given us. Therefore we need to seek people, who God has called to His service, and help and equip them to get and stand in those positions He has called them to. Obedience is bravely letting the community to take shape based on the people belonging to it, instead trying to give it form ourselves, seeking people to do tasks we think are important.
Obedience is serving. Anyone, who is in Christ, can serve the Kingdom. To thrive the Kingdom needs our personal and active efforts. We need to identify where God has called each of us, and support one another in our respective tasks. We need to strive to integrate everyone to the Body of Christ in such a way, that they get to serve God in that position and role God has called them.
Jesus has given us various gifts and callings to equip His entire Body to service. Most of these gifts are natural, but some are spiritual. Likewise, most of the callings are natural, but some are spiritual. Examples of the callings are serving, leadership and hospitality.
In addition He has called some to an office of an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, a teacher or a pastor. These are not just callings or spiritual gifts, but offices, whose holders are responsible for building and equipping the Body of Christ. People in these offices must work together to render the entire body of Christ to live pure and to disciplined life before God.
All of these offices are still in function. However, the present apostolic office must be confused with that of the 12 disciples or their authority. Likewise, the present prophetic office must not be confused with the great Old Testament prophets. The present holders of these offices are called to serve the Kingdom in our time and in their respective environments.
No-one can apply for such position. God calls and appoints the servants to the Kingdom. The local communities of believers need to recognize the call, and when they see it appropriate, position the person to that task. We need to identify those, whom God has called and prepared to build His Kingdom. God wants that the people He has called to serve are also called to the task by a their community and are recognized by the community where they serve.
Kingdom of God is an anarchistic monarchy. It has structures based on God’s authority and ordinance. Two examples of these are the apostolic authority and the local community. When being subject to Christ is the same as being loyal to these structures, it is God’s will that we are loyal to them. But this loyalty cannot be demanded by anyone, only given. If those structures or people cease to serve the Kingdom, it is the right and responsibility of the subjects of the Kingdom to retract their loyalty from those who are rebellious to the King.
Obedience is being authentic. It is to be who we are, to seek our place in the Kingdom and in the world. It is to exercise that courage, open-mindedness, leniency and tenacity He has given and keeps giving us, to be faithful and fair in everything we do. It is to practise moderation is our lifestyles so that we can support one another.
Obedience to King is acting in unity with other subjects. Each of us needs to seek and serve the vision God has given to His entire Kingdom. We need to think that our goal as a Kingdom is more important than my own goal as an individual or as a representative of some church or ministry.
The goals of the Kingdom are both practical and spiritual. We need to carry our responsibility of each other, our neighbours, environments and the society in general, in practical means as well as spiritually and economically. This responsibility personal and holistic, and it cannot be delegated.
God wants to use us to exercise His justice and kindness in our communities and in the surrounding world. It is the will of God that we help, support and defend the weak and everyone else who needs help. We need the promote the well-being of people everywhere. We should act locally, primarily in our own environments, yet promoting justice and fairness in larger, even global scale.
Obedience is carrying out the Great Commission. As we are obedient, God will guide us to give others a possibility to know Christ and grow in that knowledge. Yet we can only encounter people as our authentic selves and share what we have received from Him. Only Holy Spirit can give birth to faith and call to spiritual growth. Obedience is allowing Him to use as as His instruments in this, presenting the call to walk along.
Obedience is preparing to meet our God. On the last day Jesus will return and pay everyone by their deeds. Ultimately the question is, if we have been obedient to Him as our king and ruler, or have been rebellious.
And finally, obedience is about here and now. It does not matter, what we have done or not done in the past or what will happen in the future. What matters is what we do now. Obedience is turning to Him in the present.
This was genuinity, but I realized that there is no such word…
You don’t have to be nuts to belong to this network – but it does help.
Authenticity is being who we are. God is who He is, and when He created man to be His image, He wanted that we too would be who we are, genuine.
Authenticity is about who we are, not what we do. God is a being, He Who Is, and He wants to turn us into the likeness of His Son, people who are. Being who one is, is being genuine. God is Genuine and that’s what He wants to turn us into.
Authenticity is being real. God is the supreme realist. And he wants us to be real too. There’s no point in pretending to an omniscient being. The only way God wants us to face Him is as we are. And He wants that we always act accordingly. If He is not happy about something in us, it is Him, who wants and can do something about it. We must not rush nor procrastinate to transform our lives out of His pace. We have to face Him genuinely as we are, every day. And let Him make the difference in us.
The foundation of authenticity is our being in Christ, in His death and resurrection. When we are in Jesus, who is the Son of God, we are spiritually living the life of God’s child. When this life gets increasingly room in our lives, His new life starts to manifest more in our lives. The only thing we can do for this is to be genuine. If we try to live the new life without being genuine, we fake and do not live the new life.
For authenticity is desire to learn to know God and His will, not defend our own, it is humbleness before Him and His word which is stored in the Bible, and it is considering ourselves dead to live for Him. When we find that we have broken against His will, authenticity is confessing that He is right, will to do right in future and faith to believe in the forgiveness based on the work of Christ on the cross.
Therefore authenticity is the way to sanctification. It is admitting our incompleteness and allowing Holy Spirit to have room in our lives. When His new creation starts to manifest itself in our lives, internally our genuine identity as children of God strengthens and externally it becomes evident that our we increasingly obey the law of God.
The change in our behaviour is the result of our humility and authenticity. We cannot start by changing our behaviour, which is the end result of the process, but our identity in Christ has to strengthen first and only be reflected in our actions. Neither can we strengthen that identity ourselves, because that strengthening means that Christ fills us ever stronger, and we cannot command Him to do as we say. All we can do is to surrender to God with all our being, and trust that He will strengthen that identity in us when and how He sees fit.
Authenticity is giving up our hypocrisy, surrendering our defences and being real. When we personally and continually surrendering our hearts, minds, soul and everything else to Christ and allow Holy Spirit to put Jesus in the centre of our lives, He will strengthen our identity as children of God and we will genuinely know who we are.
Authenticity is expressing the character of Christ. His humbleness, forgiveness, openness, freedom, creativity, courage integrity and discipline.
Humility leads us into authenticity. Humility to let Him do His work in us, practise His creativity and freedom in us, through us and with us. Humility to let Him guide us to find our own styles and mould us into that kind of people He intended us to be. Into sincere, intellectually honest, free, forgiving and kind people. Authenticity is creativity. Art in the deepest sense of the word.
Authenticity leads to transparency and openness. Have no need close our each other outside our lives, and we can be open about what we plan and do and why. Our love and ideas must get to spread freely. Like open source software, open lives mean sharing what we have for our common good.
Authenticity is freedom. In Christ we are free to serve God and in Christ we have no desire to rule one another. We are called to serve, not to control. Authenticity is respecting each others privacy while handing them a loving hand when needed.
When we are genuine, we are ready to admit and forgive our own shortcomings and those of others. When we realize that we are likely to have ourselves mistaken in many issues, where we believe we are right, our desire to be right transforms from defending our own stand into seeking the truth, even if it means that we have to change our minds.
Authenticity is integrity. Integrity is a word that describes God well. When we live by the Spirit, He expresses His life more in our lives and this word comes to describe us too. Integrity means that we are no longer genuine just to God, but to everyone. The reality of God is expressed in our lives. As are many other of His attributes, like holiness, creativity, love, joy and peace to name a few.
Authenticity is incredibly challenging. That’s why it often is the last thing we want to do. But authenticity is also the easiest thing to do. Sometimes it is easier to be genuine when you are too tired to be anything else. That’s why it helps to be utterly broken: one who has nothing to lose by being genuine.
