Over the years that my passion and ministry has been serving the Lord, I watched churches and denominations spend huge amounts of time and money on developing a successful approach to missions. From outside consultants to ‘out-of-the-box’ programs, the sum that has been spent is staggering just over the past one hundred years! Still there are hundreds of unreached people groups.
We need not look anywhere else than our Bibles. Not only did Jesus train the disciples how to evangelize, but as soon as the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, the Apostles and those with them in the Church were equipped and knew exactly what to do. There was no missions committee formed to plan missions or a church growth campaign, or outreach programs. · Peter was filled with the Spirit and preached the gospel, “so those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41). · When Peter and John were harassed by the religious authorities and told not to preach in the name of Jesus, they insisted that “we must obey God rather than men” (5:29). I can guarantee that any effort to reach the lost will have a minimal impact if the Holy Spirit is not the driving force behind evangelism and mission. I trust you are in total agreement with His method.
0 Comments
Because of surgery, I will not be able to post today. Please come back tomorrow.
It is amazing how God often reveals the true character of people when the circumstances are the most difficult. Persecution was rising through the stoning of Stephen and afterwards, but it did not stop what God was doing. In fact, because there were faithful men chosen by God to serve, “And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7).
“Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ” (Acts 8:4–5). Philip had been chosen to be a deacon in chapter 6:5 along with others who were “of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom…full of faith” (6:3, 5). The stoning of Stephen and the rise in persecution never stopped Philip from pursuing the proclamation of the gospel. There is another feature about Philip that is very important to note. He was obedient to divine instructions; “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And he rose and went” (Acts 8:26–27). He asked no questions and raised no arguments. As I mentioned about a week ago, we often exercise selective obedience when it comes to following what the Lord wants us to do. Philip’s obedience led to a further expansion of the gospel into another part of the world. We too will never know where God is going to harvest souls for the kingdom of God until we are faithful and obey His directions and follow His methods. Early in the development of the Church, God brought to the surface persons with qualities that were needed as the Church grew and faced many challenges.
One of these persons was “Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement [comfort or consolation]” (Acts 4:36). He understood the purpose of the Church and the need to encourage in practical ways. He no doubt saw needs in the Church and “sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet” (4:37). It seems that Barnabas goes out of sight according to Luke’s record in Acts, until Saul comes on the scene. He was needed to encourage this new disciple because many in Jerusalem were not willing to accept that he was truly converted. Since Barnabas had firsthand knowledge of what happened at Saul’s conversion, he acts as a comforter to both Saul and believers in Jerusalem to bring them together. It is no surprise that the Holy Spirit selects Barnabas as Saul’s companion for their first missionary journey. “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”” (Acts 13:2). That was about nine years after their first meeting, showing God’s confidence in the two working as a team. What qualities do you have that look like a Barnabas? Do you have a Barnabas in your life? Your gift may not be exactly like Barnabas, but the Church everywhere needs this quality in people. It is absolutely true that God does not show favoritism when it comes to offering salvation to ALL because He “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4). Neither are we to be partial toward others in the Church (James 2:1-13); “if you show partiality you are committing sin” (2:9).
At the same time, when we are looking for leaders and those who carry on the work of ministry, we see clear qualifications that were sought by the Early Church, and found in individuals. Here are some of these qualities that were part of their selection of deacons in Acts 6:3-8. · They had to be men of “good reputation." What were others saying about these persons? · They had to be men “full of the Holy Spirit.” That means they had to be under His control as a dominant characteristic of their lives. · They had to be men “full of...wisdom.” This does not refer to the wisdom of this world or mere human intelligence. It is wisdom that comes from God and through His truth. · They selected Stephen, “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.” He was a person that believed God and knew His Word. This is proven by the number of times He quotes Scripture in the next chapter. · He was also “full of grace and power.” This is the divine supply freely flowing through the persons so that their work for God and toward others is effective and bears fruit for God. These qualities should not only be our standard in the church for leaders and ministers, but for ourselves so that we become effective in our work for God. One of the greatest joys we have in this ministry is watching faithful “Timothys” disciple other “Timothys” so they will be able and confident in teaching others also (2 Timothy 2:2). Paul had men like this that he left in certain places (Corinth and Crete for example) because he had invested in these men and released them into the Lord’s work. This model we find in Paul’s ministry was very effective and enabled him to cover more ground in ten years, plant more churches in that same period of time, and spread the gospel from Antioch to Rome. Over those three missionary journeys and a final trip to Rome, he covered 11,081 miles, and that was with none of the modern conveniences we have today. There is certainly no reason why we should not follow his example – it was biblical! I have included a picture in this blog of a group of disciples in S. E. Asia who have just finished their training in God’s Plan for His Disciples and God’s Plan for His Church. They are strategically located near people groups that have never heard the gospel. We are confident God will use them to “GO” and effectively use what they have learned to train others. We are praying for the Holy Spirit to empower them with the authority of Scripture. This should be the path of every believer. If we take seriously the command of Jesus in Matthew 28:19-20 and similar references, we should want to follow the most effective method that is biblical and accomplish the work as quickly as possible. Because some have asked for me to describe our ministry, I will give a short overview here. The aim of this ministry is to equip indigenous leaders and church planters to “Go therefore [based on the authority in Christ] and make disciples of all nations [ethnos or ethne, all people groups – over 17,000]. Rather than going and spending years learning a language and becoming immersed in a culture we are not familiar with, we look for persons who are potentially “faithful Timothys in that culture or people group who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2). None of this can happen unless those we train are empowered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). That means, missionary efforts by us or those we train must come under the absolute authority and power of the Spirit (see John 15:5; 16:13). By His working in us and those we train, the gospel will reach every unengaged and unreached people group at the “end of the earth.” Our objective is to train and equip faithful disciples who will be able to do the same with other faithful disciples. In 2018, we launched a new training tool, God’s Plan for His Disciples, which grew out of a need by church planters in Vietnam. They were seeing many persons come to Christ through their evangelism, but were struggling with how to get them established in their faith as Paul did in churches he planted (Acts 14:21-23). “When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” This is indigenous church planting and making sure they are well established. For Paul, it only took about four months in each place. As this work of training by NFI is accomplished, we then want to go out of sight as quickly as possible and let the indigenous leaders carry on the work. We have found that it often takes many visits to help the leaders gain the confidence they can do this work, or get over their dependence on us or western methods. We want them to become self-sustaining, self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propagating. Over and over I look at the single-minded attitude that Paul had for himself and others – that the pure gospel of grace would be received and Christ displayed in us. The verse yesterday exposed his deep passion for others; I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!” (Galatians 4:19).
There was another reason why Paul did not shrink from suffering. “For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So, death is at work in us, but life in you” (2 Corinthians 4:11–12). The death that worked in Paul was the cutting away of the flesh and his sufferings for the gospel. That came from two sources; those who hated Jesus and any representation of Him, and from religious people who were living a false gospel. The suffering did not matter as long as the gospel of Christ was proclaimed and His glory increased. That had to start with Christ being seen in Paul. There was no benefit in preaching the gospel if it was not lived out (manifested) through his life. The word “manifested” means “to be fully known by revealing clearly and in detail, to bring to light or make plain or to disclose.” There was no mistaking what people saw. What if we made that our objective? There is only one way we can do this –- by asking the Holy Spirit to transform our lives through His power in us. As Paul says, “For this I toil, struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works within me” (Colossians 1:29). Is He working in you? What did Paul know about childbirth? Never having gone through it, what does any man know about giving birth to a child? I clearly remember pacing the hospital halls when our first child was born as a breech. They would not allow me into the delivery room with my wife, but I could hear her screaming with the pain – until our son was born!
Because of the intense struggles in the Early Church between justification by the law and being justified by grace alone, I see in Paul’s first letter that he wrote, the deep pain he had over wanting the saints to receive the pure gospel of grace. Galatians is Paul’s screams of pain because some wanted to shackle believers with the slavery of works and withhold their freedom in Christ. There were false teachers who went to Galatia and taught them “a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble [them] and want to distort the gospel of Christ” (1:6-7). This caused great pain for Paul and drove him to write this letter immediately after the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:1-35). We see the depth of this pain in this verse: “my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!” (Galatians 4:19). Notice that real spiritual birth takes place when “Christ is formed in you!” This is not knowledge or a form of religion, but the living Christ building His character in us by the Holy Spirit. It is a divine work, not human effort. The Church needs leaders like this who are willing to suffer intense pain so others are conformed to the image of Christ through the power of the gospel. That is true discipling! All of us at some point in our lives face trials that force us back into the presence of God in a special way. I have been thinking of God’s shadow. David asked God, “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings” (Psalm 17:8). Moses had the same thoughts about the presence of God; “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1).
Chuck Swindoll gives four points about the shadow of God that are worth considering: 1. When God prepares us for effective ministry, He includes what we would rather omit – a period of waiting. That cultivates patience. 2. As God makes us wait, hiding us in His shadow, He shows us we are not indispensable. That makes us humble. 3. While God hides us away, He reveals new dimensions of Himself and new insights regarding ministry. That makes us deep. 4. When God finally chooses to use us, it comes at a time least expected, when we feel the least qualified. That makes us effective. (1) As with all those God has used in effective ways down throughout history, He also does it now from the secret place under His wings. He wants you and me to realize that ministry and mission work must be done from that place. That is where we get to know Him best. (1) Paul - A Man of Grace and Grit, Thomas Nelson, 2002, page 89. |
Archives
December 2023
Link To Our Old Blog:
|