As we examine Paul’s life and ministry which sprang out of what God did in him, we see that great joy flowing through him to others.
“But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles” (Galatians 1:15–16). Imagine God taking pleasure in you because of what you represent through His saving grace – His Son. This is God’s high purpose and calling. This had a reciprocal effect in Paul that comes out in many of his letters. Consider how we should think of others because of God’s pleasure in us. “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful” (1 Corinthians 13:4–5). “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor” (10:24). “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves” (Romans 15:1). Perhaps these verses become a measuring tool for how much joy we have in God’s pleasure in us.
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I was thinking today about the “joy in heaven over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:7, 10). At the very beginning of the Church in Acts, this joy and gladness was the immediate result of the Holy Spirit being poured out and “the Lord adding to their number day by day those who were being saved” (2:46-47). As in Luke 15, there was repentance as Peter preached because of the power demonstrated in the message of the Word (Acts 2:38).
This type of joy is so different from many today who try to create an entertainment atmosphere so people feel good. Repentance is a humbling process, but it brings the greatest joy. The things that move heaven come from truth transforming the heart so it is in alignment with heaven. When Jesus addressed the subject of “abiding” in Him, the vine, He gives another reason besides being fruitful. “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11). We only experience true joy, His joy in us, when we walk closely with the Lord and make sure every part of our lives is firmly connected to Him. In Jesus’ prayer to the Father, He says that He spoke certain things to the disciples while He was still in the world “that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves” (17:13). If we better understood the joy of heaven and God’s desire that we share it, we would remove many things from our priority list and enter into the joy of heaven. As Randy heads out to S. E. Asia, he is looking forward to special opportunities to introduce God’s Plan for His Disciples (GPHD) and God’s Plan for His Church (GPH) to leaders in Malaysia (October 11-13) and Myanmar (14-24). One of these opportunities is an introduction training to two groups of leaders in Mandalay, Myanmar and one of them is a group of former Buddhist monks who are now missionaries for Christ in their own culture, and 14 leaders from Rakhine State, the most persecuted state in the country. Like Paul, all of these have gone out into mission ministry without any support, choosing to minister in very difficult places. Let us pray for these courageous leaders. We believe these are times when together we must pray for a work of God to further establish believers in their faith and the foundation of God’s Word. Please think of Randy during these dates and lift him up in prayer. It is very important that the Church clearly understand its mission and commission. Aside from Matthew 24:14; 28:19-20; Mark 16:15 and other Scriptures, Acts 1:8 contains information that is vital to who, where and how our evangelism efforts should be focused. This requires looking at all these instructions and prophecies together.
In this blog, I want to particularly look at Acts 1:8; “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses [both] in Jerusalem [both] and in all Judea, [both] and Samaria and [both] to the end of the earth" (words added for clarity from the original Greek text). Have you ever thought about what the word "end" means in the original language? At one time I studied it, but it did not register until looking more carefully at the word. The Greek word is: eschatos: meaning “last, extreme, most remote, last place or it could also mean, lowest status.” What people group are you thinking about right now? Those who have never heard? Statistics vary depending on the resource, but there are about 3,046 people groups without any missionaries, churches or believers. THEY ARE THE “ENDS OF THE EARTH”! As pointed out in the verse above, it is not a question of leaving the local or regional work unattended, but at the same time pursuing those people groups who have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ so we can finish the task Jesus gave us to do. What are you and your church doing to make sure “both” are your target of the gospel? Jonah had gone through a very long and difficult time. Struggling with actually doing the will of God when it seems counter-intuitive to our human thinking can be a very exhausting event. One of the elements that makes this struggle more complicated is disobedience – going directly against what we know is the will of God. For Jonah, disobedience meant a three-day and three-night stay in a hotel God created just for Jonah. It was a place where God had his full attention.
There are many I come across who make all sorts of excuses for not doing the clear will of God revealed in His word. Most of the reasons given are selfish and the result of putting our comforts first and not considering the rewards of obedience. After spending those three days and nights alone, Jonah “called out to the Lord, out of [his] distress” (Jonah 2:2). As he wraps up his prayer, Jonah comes to a very important conclusion: “I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”” (2:9). Most who participate in any type of ministry have made vows of some kind to the Lord about how they will serve Him. Our greatest moment of worship is when we do what we said we will do. Like Jonah, this is often not without a struggle of the heart. As Jonah found, the greatest reward is not in serving God on our terms, but on His. Are you missing out on rewards of genuine worship because you are holding back full obedience? Most of the reports we give are about our work in countries far from home. This time I want to share a story by Terry, one of our team. It will show that God is using our training material right here in the United States.
“I have had the privilege of knowing a man of God by the name of David for over 25 years. I met him when we lived in Union County, NC. David is an African American brother in Christ, who started a church over 25 years ago in Marshville, NC. He has seen growth from a handful to hundreds. God has worked in marvelous ways in the man's life and in his church corporately. In the past several years, David has been mentoring many men that we might call his Timothys. Those brothers are spread throughout NC and the United States. We keep in touch periodically, so earlier this year he called me to catch me up on what the Lord is doing in and through him. He mentioned a group of believers that he wanted to disciple. That call came about the time that the second edition of God’s Plan for His Disciples came out, so I sent him a copy of it. He told me that he completed the first two lessons and knew that it was a tool he wanted to put into the hands of the disciples. So I sent him 25 more copies. After that he wanted an additional 50 copies. brother Since that time, I sent a copy of GPHD to a brother he knows in Chicago, who wanted an additional 25. I sent those to David as well, and he sent them on to his friend. The brother recently reported to David that the manual is "hot in Chicago!" People are using it and growing in the Lord. It is receiving much praise primarily because (according to the brother's testimony), "it's getting people back into the word of God." The manual has also been sent to Costa Rica and has been well-received there also. Brother David Allen also has a school of ministry that he had suspended for a time but recently told me that he wants to start that back up again and introduce the brothers to both GPHD AND GPHC. God willing, I will visit David and go over GPHC with him to see if that's something he wants to use in training the leaders of his church and other various ministers of the gospel. I'm looking forward to what the Lord will continue to do with GPHD and GPHC. To God be the glory!” If this can happen in churches from NC to Chicago, what will it do for discipling in your church? If you are interested in receiving a copy, please contact us at: newfoundationsinternational@gmail.com We have seen in previous examinations of John 7:37-39 that Jesus is the only source of thirst-quenching water. When we come to Him, we discover a source that has no limit. But this is not known or experienced unless and until we take that first step toward Him – “come…believe”!
What does this river look like? First, we must take the images of rivers as we know them out of our minds. The source is not some mountain range or underground spring, but it is exclusively in the person of Jesus. It has no evidence of human involvement. In other words, it cannot be duplicated by man or his organizations. It is purely come to us through the Holy Spirit. It is living water imparted from a living Savior through the power of His Spirit! Now, consider this divine river of refreshment and power flowing out of your heart and life. How can this be? Remember the steps we have covered before.
When you submit your life in these ways to the Author of Life, you will discover this river starting to flow through your life. This will create more thirst and the river will grow until it is large and consumes everything with His powerful work and reward – CONSTANT FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM! One of the things we are experiencing in this ministry is training orphans between the ages of 12 and 17 in Myanmar (Burma). This has been a slowly developing opportunity, but an exciting one. They are like sponges; soaking up the Word of God and preparing themselves for the time when they are old enough to return to their native people group and share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We are asking the staff and leaders of the orphanage to go through God’s Plan for His Disciples with them. There are many times leaders do not think they need to study at this level, but we have personally gone through this material as leaders of this ministry many times and every time we learn more. Our doctrinal foundation becomes stronger and our hunger for God's Word grows greater every time we work through a new revision of our training material. This reminds me of Jesus’ words regarding children. “At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will” (Matthew 11:25–26). Later, Jesus told the disciples, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Learning takes two basic attitudes; desire and humility. The older we get, the harder these two things become – UNLESS, we allow the Holy Spirit to soften our hearts and plant both attitudes in us so we gain a hunger for learning from the Scriptures in a way that transforms and causes formation to take place. Then we become more useful in the Masters hand. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14. Throughout the ages, the Lord is faithful to His promises, and when we have the privilege to witness His promise being fulfilled, we are truly blessed beyond words. What a joy to see Africans leading, praying for and commissioning their own for the task of reaching unreached peoples! My trip began with a new denomination called Harvest Field Christian Ministry in Abuja. Around 35 leaders whose goal is to reach out to English-speaking countries of West Africa gathered to discover anew the power and impact of the early church. Their enthusiasm for God’s Word, prayer and worship reminded me of the Antioch Church in Acts 13:1-4. The training in Jos with Christ Apostolic Church exceeded all expectations with 98 key leaders participating. The highlight of this group was their passion to put what they learned into practice. Their leaders pressed in to create plans that would result in church planting movements that would reach into the country of Benin. Joining us in this training was Pastor E. from Burkina Faso, and he is opening doors to his country, Niger and Benin which will be scheduled in early 2020. An amazing number (37) of ECWA (Evangelical Churches Winning All) leaders completed GPHC, and each of these was commissioned through prayer to train others according to 2 Tim. 2:2 while moving into the areas where the unreached live. What impressed me about this group is that almost half of those who began the training almost a year ago finished the entire study. This is an amazing percentage, showing extreme faithfulness of these leaders. In Kogon River, 17 graduated GPHC during one of their busiest farming seasons. This commitment is greater than we might understand here in the USA. In this rural area, attendance at any event is quite a sacrifice, and several more are planning to finish GPHC and graduate on November 9th. Let us pray for these who are poor in this world but rich toward God (James 2:5). Authority is one of those topics that many avoid because it is the universal reason most people get in trouble. Either authority is ignored or it is abused. Jesus was never afraid of divine authority. Over and over He points to the Father as the One He submitted to; “the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing” (John 5:19).
When Jesus was making His call to anyone on “the last day of the feast, the great day” (7:37), He linked satisfying the thirst of anyone with the authority of the Scriptures; “as the Scripture has said” (7:38). You would think that the teachers of the Law would have stopped and wondered what they were missing when they heard him say this. No, not one person took the time to read the Scriptures and link them with Jesus’ words and discover real satisfaction. Perhaps we are not much different. We get so familiar with a form of ‘doing church’ that we miss the real freshness and power of the Holy Spirit because we fail to realize the authority of the Word. If these Jews had paused to think about their spiritual thirst and how the Scriptures they claimed to know, provided the answer to their need, they would have come to Jesus and believed. I am firmly convinced that at the root of every problem in the Church today and the reason why we have not yet fulfilled the Great Commission, is because we really do not fully accept the authority of God’s Word. If we did, things would change dramatically and immediately. |
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