 There are pictures I often receive that tell far more than the words can describe. This is one of them. Our Timothy in S. E. Asia has been training pastors with God’s Plan for His Church (GPHC). It has generated amazing interest in how the Early Church was formed, why it was formed, and how we can implement these same biblical principles today.
Is there a reason why this interest is more intense in other countries and not here in our Western World? I believe there are a few important differences that we should note.
Can their thirst for God’s Word be duplicated here? Yes, if we desire it! Psalm 119:18 express this passion. “Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” Without God the Spirit opening the eyes of our hearts (Ephesians 1:18), we will remain complacent with our state of mind and heart.
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There is a story that is repeated far too often throughout the history of God’s people Israel and the Church. God raises up a godly leader who restores the honor and worship of God and the dignity of kingship untilthat king, priest, or prophet dies. In 2 Chronicles 24:1-19, God “sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord…they would not pay attention” (19).
The sadness of this reoccurring syndrome should make our hearts sick to realize how fickle we are and easily distracted from our purpose and calling. Jesus had to rebuke Peter by saying, “you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Matthew 16:23; Mark 8:33). Peter reflects on this rebuke in his first letter (1 Peter 1:13). “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Paul says, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col. 3:2). Preventing decline is never accomplished at one time. It requires a continual state of vigilance, repentance and dependance. May we, the Church, wake up to this kind of spiritual manhood, personal and corporate vigilance! For the next eight days, I will be taking a much needed break from ministry responsibilities to spend time with family and the Lord. For those of you who contact me on all sorts of media, I am sorry, but I will be ‘unplugged’ and not responding. The Lord’s work will go on! Your prayers and support are just as important as ever!
My quiet times have been in Second Chronicles. The history books of the Old Testament yield rich lessons and insights of which I would like to share a few with you. 23:16-21. One of the most important marks of revival is severe dealing with evil. In 2 Chronicles 23:16-21, it is evident as “all the people went to the house of Baal and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces” (17). It was not enough to get rid of the articles and place of false worship, but the Israelites went on to kill “the priest of Baal before the altars.” Under the New Covenant that we have in Christ, we don’t go around killing people who are violating the person and worship of God, but we should be dealing radically with anything in our own lives that displaces the person and worship of God. In this case, not only was the worship of the one true God restored, but king Joash was given his rightful place over the people of God. We must ask ourselves whether Jesus has the place that rightly belongs to Him? If not, what must we do to put Him back in our “center”? Ask yourself what consumes your hours during the day? Is it all legitimate and does it have a God-given purpose? How self-centered are these activities? You might be surprised if you are honest. We are no different than the eleven disciples in many ways. As soon as the most important moment of our lives has passed, we forget the instructions and get distracted with other things. They saw Jesus “lifted up and a cloud took Him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). End of chapter!
“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). I believe the Church today needs to ask ourselves some very hard and straight-forward questions.
Nearly sixty years after the Church was established at Pentecost, Jesus told five churches to “repent”(Revelation 2-3). This is the only formula that will help us recover God’s original plan and purpose for the Church. It will not be an easy road, but it will be filled with the support and guidance of the Holy Spirit. I continue to ponder many parts of the Book of Acts, and relish how the Holy Spirit keeps opening my heart to understand His Word and truth. As I meditated on Acts 1:6-8, I realized that in the last moments of Jesus’ time with His disciples, He was revealing some majestic truths that would (should) guide the Church until He returns.
During the 50 days between His resurrection and ascension, Jesus met several times with the eleven disciples, and each time taught vital lessons that would prepare them for the Spirit’s indwelling and formation of the Church. In the last meeting, Jesus taught them key principles. “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:7–8). Please note:
The phrase “you will be my witnesses” is not left for us to decide whether we “will” or not. It is the divine intent and action of the Holy Spirit whom we “will receive… when the Holy Spirit has come upon” us. His “coming upon” us has happened for all who believe (Ephesians 1:12-14). From this promise (Acts 1:8), I am convinced that the question is NOT whether we will witness for Jesus, but if we will submit to the Holy Spirit doing this through us. WHAT A PRIVILEGE! We need to pay careful attention to all of Scripture. Many verses and sections of Scripture are more familiar to us because they are referred to, preached, and taught on with greater frequency. We must remember that every word is written “from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). One sample of this is the first two verses is Acts 1.
“In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up, after He had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen.” (1:1-2). Luke writes what he did in his gospel account and the Book of Acts with amazing detail and is evidence that he was filled with the Spirit and led to document the amazing work of the Spirit in preparation for the Church to be born. He attributes Jesus’ “commands” to the apostles as being given “through the Holy Spirit.” The “Holy Spirit” is also called “the promise of the Father” (1:4). Can there be any doubt that all three members of the Godhead are working together, orchestrating the greatest events in history? From creation, the incarnation, the death, and resurrection of Jesus, and now the giving of the Spirit; all these events confirm that all Divine Persons worked together in perfect harmony for their glory. How much more should we seek this unity in ourselves with them and with each other? Their work is for one ultimate purpose, and so should our work be.  “Thank you for praying for the ministry in Sierra Leone and Chad. It’s been an amazing time of ministry in both countries. First, we trained 40 pastors in Sierra Leone using God’s Plan for His Disciples (GPHD) over 3 days. They will complete the manual by the end of May when I return for a graduation and then introduce God’s Plan for His Church (GPHC). All 40 pastors are going to begin teaching GPHD in their Sunday school classes that have roughly 10,000 members in Sierra Leone.
I then flew to D’Jamena, Chad. We had a 2 day FCA E3 discipleship training for 16 youth pastors. It was exciting to see how the Lord is establishing a strong sports ministry in Chad and how FCA is able to provide resources and training. My good friend Vincent who oversees FCA in Africa will be here in May to do more training and connect with church leaders to expand the vision of FCA. We spent 3 days training with pastors and missionaries from 3 different denominations using GPHD. These are ECWA, Brethren, and Lutheran churches. We will have a GPHD graduation in early June followed by 3 days training in GPHC. The Brethren Church is planning to have all 60 of their missionaries go through GPHD. Pastor Clement is our main contact who is going to do the training.” (Pat). “Before going to Pakistan for the first time, we prayed that they would become like the church in Thessalonica who "receive the word of God...not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers" (1 Thessalonians 2:13).
Randy and Jonathan had the privilege of making this journey for the first time. We thank God for Sherman and Brother V in Pakistan who worked tirelessly and under intense time limitations to make sure the Urdu translation of God's Plan for His Disciples (GPHD) was ready in time. We were in the city of Sialkot, the place where John Hyde (the "apostle of prayer") labored for many years in the late 1800's. John Hyde cried out to God, "Give me souls or I will die." We preached openly and had countless times to pray for the saints and spent time with children asking for help with their school studies. We also had a brief two day conference in which we introduced the Urdu GPHD and helped them start learning from God’s Word like the early church. Pray with us that we will be granted another visa to return, follow up on the work, and travel to the capital city Islamabad to work with young new believers.” (Jonathan)  “On our 4th trip to Bangladesh in the past 18 months, we are beginning to form relationships with like-minded brothers and sisters and see “God's Plan” develop. In Chittagong, one of the brothers (Shanko) from the Hill Tract Area, was such an encouragement to us as we looked at his manual, God's Plan for His Church (GPHC). He embodied Jesus' words “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him." After seeing his hunger and passion for “God's Plan” we asked him to accompany us to Cox's Bazaar and minister to the Rohingya refugees. He came and after seeing and hearing the testimonies of the Rohingya brothers and sisters was "spurred on" to bring the training back to the village area.
Since leaving Bangladesh, Shanko has requested God's Plan for His Disciples (GPHD) and is pressing into areas that have never heard the Gospel. Cox's Bazaar was a great time of fellowship with those from the refugee camp. All of them finished GPHD and were so eager to share with us what they had learned. We sat around God's Word for hours discussing the lessons. At the end of the day one of the brothers said he was sad because we couldn't keep going. He wanted to hear more from God’s Word. This type of love for God will reach the 1 million Muslims in the refugee camp and turn the world upside down for Christ. “R” brought his wife and small child to the training. His wife had finished the GPHD and is beginning to share the Gospel to the Muslim women around her. Young "Timothy's" were brought, so the total refugees were now 6 that had completed the GPHD. We also introduced GPHC and were extremely encouraged with the direction things are moving in Bangladesh.” (Jonathan) Your prayers are greatly valued!! You may have heard about the 6.8 earthquake in near Guayaquil, Ecuador that killed 15 and injured 445 others just two day ago. We have been praying for the people of this country and many we know in the area that was affected. Our desire is that God will use circumstances like this to turn many from the darkness of unbelief to the light of salvation through Jesus Christ.
While this consumes the attention of many in this country, God is also working in other ways. Today our partner in Quito, Ecuador sent 100 God’s Plan for His Disciples (GPHD) in Spanish to Naranjal which is about 2 hours south from Guayaquil. The pastor, a new contact, is very grateful to receive this material, and will be sharing it with different groups and churches in the area. Let us pray that God’s Word continues to spread through this study and impacts thousands more than we ever expect. We must never underestimate what He can and will do to increase the spread of the gospel and magnify His glory. |
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