Where is that Church today?

Last week, I went to the residential children’s home to visit the nine year old child I am mentoring. I was shocked to discover that she is unable to read. She tries to mask her illiteracy with her eloquent speech, but it is obvious that the child cannot read!

Ephesians 6 starts off with instruction to various groups of people. Children are instructed to obey their parents in the Lord. Parents are encouraged to teach their children godly discipline without provoking them to anger. Slaves are instructed to obey their masters , and masters to treat their slaves with dignity for all are servants of Christ the Judge.

Ephesians 6:12 then states: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood , but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” The Bible makes it very clear that we are not to squabble amongst ourselves. Our enemy is not the people around us, Christian or not. The prince of darkness and his host are our enemy.  We do nothing but weaken our resolve when we fight among ourselves. When we let disharmony and discord infiltrate our ranks, the enemy rejoices. (1 Pet 5:8)

As much as the battle is a spiritual one, it also affects the physical realm in which we find our current existence. The enemy has thrown poverty against us. He afflicts the minds of our youth with boredom, violence and the scourge of illiteracy. It is our duty to extend compassion to those who find themselves his captives. Christ’s mission did not keep Him in the synagogue. His mission extended to all the world. He mingled among the people as one who desired their highest good, extending to them the right arm of fellowship and compassion. His ministry was a practical one.  The Bible tells us that He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil for God was with Him.  (Acts 10:38)

Christ has given us the same mission. What have we done with His command to go into all the world? We are living in the time of the end. We say it over and over, yet our actions and the way we live does not reflect this reality. Time is of the essence, yet we find ourselves unable to re-group and strategise an effective onslaught against the enemy. We are like King David who, in the time when kings were meant to go to war, was sitting in his palace daydreaming, thus giving the enemy the foothold in his life (2 Sam 11:1-4). Outreach is not about singing beautiful songs about Christ to people ravaged by poverty, alcohol and abuse. A song does nothing for them except perplex them more. Where is the God who supposedly loves them when they suffer day and night? How can you show them His love?

While Satan is on a rampage because his time is running out, while he threatens to destroy our children and families, the Church slumbers on and has potluck. Spiritual warfare is about the Church reclaiming territory. This is the Church of whom Christ spoke when He said that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. Where is that Church today? 

Main Scripture refs:  Eph 6:1-12, Matt 16:18-19, Rev 12:12

A Prayer for Revival and Reformation

Great and honourable Father, we come to You through the precious Name of Jesus. You established us as Your Church, to do Your Will on the earth and to make disciples of all men. Attached to this mission, You granted us the power of Your Spirit, that we may prevail against the gates of hell. We come to You today asking for Your mercy and forgiveness.

We have each gone our way and neglected Your Great Commission. You told us to be in the world, yet not of it; we have made ourselves comfortable here. Trading in the wares of the world, we have made enlargening our barns for survival our primary activity and neglected to rely on Your Providence. Our hearts do not beat in sync with Yours any longer and we have become cold and distant. We no longer have Your passion for the lost and perishing people who do not know You. Rich in the treasures of this world, we think we have need of nothing. However, we are really blind, poor and wretched! The love of God is not in our hearts, neither love for our own brethren.

Lord, open to us the treasures of Your Word that we may no longer be poor. We ask you for gold tried in fire, and eye-salve to take away our blindness and hypocrisy.  Quicken our cold hearts with the fire of Your love, that we may not be Christians in name only but with all our hearts. We no longer want to be just followers and fans; we want to be disciples for that is what You intended. We no longer want to be just hearers of Your Word. We have been so for centuries. We want to apply Your Word practically in our lives. We hunger and thirst for righteousness, for we have none of our own and so we come to You, the fountain of Righteousness.

Lord, You promised that if we asked anything in Your Name in accordance with Your Will, that You would do it. We ask for a revival in our spirits and a reformation in our hearts. Create in us clean hearts, and renew in each of us a right spirit. Grant us Your Holy Spirit that we may honour You in the world today, proclaiming Your great Name always. Help us to love our neighbor, both in and outside the Church. We have mostly been a reproach to Your great Name for we have tried to do things in our own strength. We have neglected Your blueprint and Your great wisdom and tried to cut corners in doing the work You appointed us. Help us to be no longer a reproach, but to bring glory to Your Name. Forgive us.

Revive us again! Help us as a Church to work in unity with one another, and to use the gifts You have given each of us so that we may finish our appointed work of taking Your Message to the whole world. We have lost our authority, because we have not lived the Gospel. Lord Jesus, when You were on this earth, You spoke with great authority because You are the Word personified. Help us to be the same, to speak with great authority,  the authority You have given us.

Revive our hearts and reform our lives, that we as a Church and as Your servants, may bring great honour to Your Name (Matt 7:29). AMEN

The Secret to Contentment Part 2-Born to Serve

Last week’s message focused on the secret to true contentment being trust in Jesus Christ who saves us, obedience to His commands because we love Him, and making His Kingdom the overriding passion in our lives.

However, the question may arise: How exactly does one make Jesus’ Kingdom your passion? This week’s message seeks to explore this question. (Matt 6:19-34)

Making Jesus’ Kingdom your passion involves making His mission the priority and central focus of your existence. We are to seek the lost and erring in the same way that the Saviour sought them i.e. with a heart of compassion. The fulfillment of the Great Commission should override your desire for wealth, prestige or status in this world. Let God take care of you, as you focus on serving Him  by taking care of those He loves and gave His life for. (Matt 28:19-20)

There is no career more rewarding than that of being a minister of Christ. It is indeed the highest privilege and calling. Most of us spend at least eight hours at our places of work, but this is no excuse to leave God’s calling on your life unfulfilled. Your place of work is your mission field – don’t wait until you retire to labour for the Master; rather do it now in the days of your youth and vigour when you can offer Him the best years of your life in humble service for His Kingdom. In ministering to the needs of others by tending to their spiritual, emotional and physical needs, you will gain an audience for your promotion of the Gospel of our Lord. The days spent at your work place where you used to complain and experience monotony will be revitalized as you gain new purpose in working for the Master. In His employ, you will find peace and contentment as never before! (1 Tim 4:12; 6:6-12, Lam 3:27, Jer 22:21)

God created us in His image and likeness. When Jesus walked this earth, He revealed His character to be that of a servant leader. Therefore this means that we were created for service! When Simon Peter’s mother-in-law was healed by Jesus, the first thing she did was to arise and wait on the Lord. In the same manner, Christ has brought us into His Kingdom to serve others and to worship Him. In doing so, we will find rest for our souls, for we will then have exchanged our burdens for His yoke of service which is “easy and light”. (Matt 8:14-15; 11:28-30, John 13)

This quiet contentment is evidenced in the life of Paul the Apostle, when as he languished in a damp prison cell, all he asked for was his coat, books and parchments.The degree of contentment you experience is directly proportional to the amount of “dying to self” that you do. Contentment stems from having a meaningful purpose –Jesus is our reason for living. He is our purpose, His mission and passion, ours too!

Light up the world for Jesus!

Life is a celebration of our creation, salvation and redemption which Christ has accomplished for us. Life is not supposed to be a meaningless existence. God has given each of us a mission and a purpose which is clearly spelt out for us in Matt 28:20.

We are to go into all the world and preach the good news to every creature, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When we are given a task by our superiors at work, we hasten to complete it. Why is it that we cannot seem to employ the same principle in having some enthusiasm for doing the work of our ultimate Master, the Lord Jesus Christ?

God has poured out gifts upon every person in His Kingdom. These are to be employed in the earnest work of God that brings sinners to the Saviour. Some people have not yet discovered their gifts of service because they have chosen not to take a step of faith in trying new things. Every investment that yields a good return contains an inherent amount of risk therein. The best investment you can make in your lifetime is that of investing in the life of someone else. When we go all out for God, He multiplies our efforts. After all, it’s only our job to plant the seed. The Holy Spirit is the one who waters it, working conviction and repentance in the heart of the lost.

Some have gifts that seem greater than others; some people have the ability to preach eloquent sermons while many can only hope that others see the image of Christ in their daily conduct. God’s purpose is not to give you great wealth and riches but rather to impart the eternal riches of His grace and His Word in your life so that you may be a wellspring of life to a world that is thirsting after Him.

From every good relationship come life lessons. God tests us and brings us victorious through many trials to show us just how powerful He is and to give us a testimony. “Every person is born into the Kingdom of God to be a missionary”. You don’t have to go to a far-flung island to tell others about God’s saving grace. Your testimony can make a difference in your local community. No one on this earth has the exact same testimony as you, but someone may steal somebody else’s sermon or revelation.  Your testimony is like your fingerprint, as it stems from your unique relationship with God.

Your life is a living epistle to the world. We are called to be shining lights in a dark and perverse world, reflecting the glory of our eternal Father. I challenge you today: Don’t just exist. Live with meaning and purpose. Drink the cup of life to its dregs. And last but not least, remember that having fun is not a stereotype. Life is not about being part of the “in crowd” or partying away mindlessly as if there is no tomorrow. You can choose to have fun any way you choose, but the best way to have fun is to have fun God’s way-reaching out to the world one soul at a time and being part of Jesus’ plan to restore us to His image. Let’s leave a legacy that continues into eternity! Let’s go out there and light up the world for Jesus! 

"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid." -Matt 5:14

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven."-Matt 5:16

Scripture refs: Matt 28:20; 2Cor 3:2-3; 2 Cor 3:18; Phil 2:15-16; John 4:14;  Prov 11:30; Matt 5:13-16

The Primary Mission of The Church-Seeking the Lost

As I was thinking about what to write this week, the verse in 1 John 2:6 suddenly popped into my head. It says: “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.” The Holy Spirit brings to remembrance the things taught by Christ to His disciples while He traversed this earth with them. The Holy Spirit still has a relevant message for the church of Christ today. Are we walking like Christ did?

 I was listening to the radio on my commute to work when a song started to play. It posed a question that is extremely relevant to the church today. “If we are the body, why aren’t His arms reaching; why aren’t His hands healing; why aren’t His words teaching; …why is His love not showing?”

The book of 1 Corinthians 12: 12-31 describes the church as the Body of Christ. The body of Christ is not made up of one member, but many members with diverse gifts and talents, all bestowed by the same Holy Spirit (v14). If this is so, why do some of us think that we can do everything ourselves and that nothing anyone else does is good enough?

Our primary aim as the church of Christ is to promote the gospel of Christ. Are we fulfilling this aim, or are we too busy fighting factional fires within the church? My college lecturer once told me that the greatest hindrance to any work is over-analyzing things. He called it “paralysis by analysis”. Are we as church members so busy analyzing each other’s performance that we are paralyzed when it comes to taking the message of the gospel of salvation to a dying world?

I am not saying there isn’t a place for correction in the church. The Bible speaks of correcting our brothers and sisters in the spirit of love, but we should also watch lest we ourselves fall into the same temptation as they have or worse still, end up trapped in the spirit of hypocrisy (Romans 2:1-3,21-24). The spirit of hypocrisy is the easiest spirit to fall into when we find ourselves continually judging others, instead of doing some soul-searching ourselves. Satan uses this as his best method of attacking believers as their attention is taken off themselves and focused on criticising others, giving him free reign to attack, divide the church and hinder the spread of the Gospel.

At the end of time, the masses will reject Christ (Rev 20:8). The only question is, will they be rejecting Him because we as the Church failed to fulfill our mission and became a stumbling block to the world? Will it be because we failed to show Christ’s love for them because we were too busy squabbling amongst ourselves and instead they saw this and then decided that if that’s what Christians do, then they don’t want to have anything to do with Christ? Will it be because we dreamed small, came to church to warm the pews and to get entertained? Proverbs 29:18 says: “Where there is no vision, the people perish…” It’s time for the church to arise with renewed vigour and passion for the lost and to seek them like Christ, the Good Shepherd seeks them!