Monday, March 28, 2005

True Disciples and True Christians

In the Biblical sense, the word "disciple" is used most often to refer to a follower of Jesus Christ(Matt. 5:1, Matt. 8:21). Sometimes it refers to a follower of John (Matt. 9:14), a follower of the Pharisees (Matt.22:16) or a follower of Moses (John 9:28).

Also, in the true Biblical sense, the word "christian" is used often to refer to a follower or an adherent of Jesus Christ. There is actually no Biblical difference between a disciple or a christian. If a person is a christian then he is a disciple. If he is a disciple then he is also a christian. In other words, a person cannot calls himself a christian unless he is a disciple, or calls himself a disciple unless he is a christian.

Therefore, in the strict Biblical sense we cannot call someone a Christian or a disciple immediately he is born again. He is saved yes, he enters the Kingdom of God yes, but, he needs time to bear the fruit of Christ-likeness in his life. You will not find it in the Scripture that a new born again believer is a christian. I have heard more than one renowned Bible teacher who said that "Many are Christians, but few are disciples"! In my opinion they are "putting the cart before the horse", so to say. It is not the job of the Local Church to make disciples out of christians. But, to make christians out of born again believers, and to make disciples of all the nations (Matt. 28:19).

According to the Scripture, christians were called disciples before the revelation of the Church at Antioch. When elders were appointed at the Church in Antioch the disciples who gathered there regularly were called Christians.

The elders of the Church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch. He later departed for Tarsus to seek Paul. "And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch" (Acts 11:26, NKJV, emphasis added).

Jesus' view on Discipleship

1. Demand of discipleship is greater than the demand of a person's family commitment and his own life.

"If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26, NKJV, emphasis added).

In other words, devotion to one's family must take the second place to his devotion to Christ.

2. A disciple must be willing to suffer shame and humiliation and hardship in following Christ.

"And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:27, emphasis added).

3. A disciple must exercise complete self denial with renunciation of all claims to his own life.

"So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:33, emphasis added).

4. A true disciple must abide in His Word.

"If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed" (John 8:31, emphasis added).

In other words, a true disciple must continue to obey His commandments and receive and follow His doctrines. A true disciple must be a doer of the Word and not hearer only (James 1:22). He must not compromise the truth of His Word.

5. A disciple must continue to bear fruit.

"By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples" (John 15:8, emphasis added).

In the above context, Jesus said a disciple cannot bear fruit unless he abides in Him (Verse 5). Bearing fruit speaks of the character of Christ. In other words, a disciple must have the Fruit of the Spirit:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law" (Gal. 5:22,23).

God the Father is glorified when He sees His disciples bear fruit.

6. Disciples must have love for one another.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34,35, emphasis added).

In fact, a believer who has no love for another believer is neither a disciple nor a christian:

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and know God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:7,8).

A person who is not born of God and does not know God cannot be a disciple or a christian!

Saturday, March 26, 2005

God's Purpose of Redemption

Redemption in the general sense means deliverance by payment of a price.

In the Old Testament, the word "redemption" is used in the general sense of deliverance from bondage of slavery of God's Covenant people in Egypt.

Moses said, "You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today...." (Deut. 15:15, NKJV, emphasis added).

In the New Testament, redemption refers to salvation from sin, death, curse of the Law and the wrath of God by Christ's sacrifice. Christ the Redeemer purchased men's deliverance and salvation by offering Himself as payment for their redemption.

Paul said, "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace ..." (Eph. 1:7, emphasis added).

Paul said, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us .." (Gal. 3:13, emphasis added).

What is God's purpose of redemption for Israel and for His Church? God Himself gave us the answer in the Old Testament and the apostle Peter explained it in the New Testament.

Exodus 19 contans a message God gave to Moses for the children of Israel after He had redeemed them from slavery in Egypt, brought them out by tremendous miracles and brought them to the foot of Mount Sinai and from there He proposed to enter a Covenant with them.

"You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:4 to 6, emphasis added).

The primary purpose of Israel's redemption is what God said to Israel, "I brought you to Myself". In other words, His purpose is to bring His chosen people to Himself. God first revealed His primary objective before He went on to outline the rest of His purpose. The Book of Exodus gives details of His Covenant and the conditions attached to His Covenant with His people.

Notice that the words spoken by God are not merely relevant to Israel after their redemption out of Egypt, but they are not less relevant to the professing Christians today. I believe that most of the Jews have never discovered the purpose of their redemption, not even today. The Scripture says because of their unbelief and rejection of God salvation has come to the Gentiles (Romans 11).

In the New Testament the Church of Jesus Christ consists of both the Jewish and Gentile believers who are redeemed by the blood of Jesus.

Peter said, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9, emphasis added).

Here we see, the Church as a Body of Christ, is God's own special people. God's purpose is to prepare a bride for His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul said, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:25 to 27, emphasis). added).

The glorious Church is the Bride of Christ. She is cleansed and made holy by the washing of water by the Word of God. The Church cannot be cleansed by any other means - like observing Church or man-made doctrine, Church custom and Church tradition.

After the preparation of the Bride, Jesus' ultimate purpose for His Church is to bring her to the Father's house for the marriage of the Lamb:

"In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:2,3, emphasis added).

1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15 give a picture of what will happen. A day will come when the true Church - true christians and true believers who are overcomers, will be caught up bodily and alive to meet the Lord in the air. The souls and spirits of those who had previously died believing in Christ, having been consciously with Him in the interim, will come with their Lord from heaven to rejoin their glorious resurrected bodies. Those alive at the time of His return, their bodies instantly transformed as well, will be caught up together with the saints of all ages to meet Christ somewhere above the earth and bring them to the Father's house of many mansions. This is what most Bible teachers call the "Rapture" - not a Biblical word. In fact, it is in the Latin translation of 1 Thessalonians 4:17. The Latin "rapturos" means an ecstatic catching away as does the English word.

The first event in heaven after the Lord takes the true Church there will be the Judgement Seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10. 1 Corinthians 3:12 to 15). This is not a judgement for condemnation but a judgement for reward. Christians must all give an account to the Lord for every action or every failure to act, for every idle word and secret thought. After this the Groom (Jesus) will want to spend some time with His Bride, the now glorified Church in the Father's House.

In Christ's days the Jewish bride was taken to the father's house where the two were in seclusion for seven days (one week). Christ must have had this custom in mind whe He promised to take His Bride to His Father's house. During these seven years (the 70th week of years in Daniel's prophecy - Daniel 9:24 to 27) the earth is going through the great tribulation period under the reign of the Antichrist! But, at precisely the same time in heaven the marriage supper of the Lamb is being prepared (Revelation 19:7,8). The Bride of Christ escapes the wrath of the Antichrist. This is the way God protects His true Church, fulfilling what Jesus said to Peter:

"The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18).

He brings His Church to Himself, completing the purpose and process of redemption!

Sunday, March 20, 2005

An Important lesson on Faith from Jesus

Jesus met with his disciples and He said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees" (Matthew 16:6, NKJV, emphasis added).

The disciples thought Jesus was referring to bread since they did not bring any bread with them.

"But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, 'O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up" (Matt. 16:8 to 10, NKJV, emphasis added)?

In other words, Jesus said the disciples had little faith because they failed to understand and failed to believe the significance of the miracles of feeding the five thousand and the four thousand. They still relied on their own ability and not on Jesus abundance.

The feeding of five thousand (Matthew 14) is a unique miracle of Jesus. This is the only miracle which appears in all the four Gospels. It is so important that God is trying to teach us an important lesson. When we combine this miracle with the miracle of the feeding of four thousand (Matthew 15) we will soon understand why Jesus paid so much attention to numbers.

In the feeding of 5000, there were available 5 loaves and 2 fish, and 12 baskets full of left-over. In the feeding of 4000, (Matt. 15) there were available 7 loaves and few fish, and 7 baskets full of left-over.

I think the principle Jesus is trying to teach us is:

The greater the needs, the fewer the resources, the greater the surplus.

Another way of looking at it is:

The greater the challenge, the less we have to start with, the more we can expect God's abundance.

Let us take as an example, the Great Commission (Matt. 28:16 to 20). It is an immense task that Jesus set before the Church. The Lord's coming again depends on the completion of this task. This the last sign of His coming again.

Jesus said, "And the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come" (Matt. 24:14, NKJV).

In other words, the end will come when the Church has completed the job of preaching the Gospel to all nations of the world.

I obtained the following statistics from the internet:

The projected population of the world in 2005 is about 6.4 billion, out of which there are only about 1.8 billion christians including more than about 1.2 billion Roman Catholics. Every year there are about 70 million unsaved souls added to the world. Even if all those who could understand the Gospel message have heard the Gospel, there are at least 70 million yet to hear the Gospel each year!

Impossible? But, Jesus said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible" (Mark 10:27, NKJV, emphasis added).

I believe "all things" means "no exception" and the Church can accomplish the task that Jesus set before us. The Great Commission is God's idea and He will not command us to do anything that the Church is not capable of. This assurance comes from Jesus, " ... I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:20). The Church is not doing it alone, but together with Jesus.

The Church must take the challenge and apply the principle we have just learned in the lesson on faith from Jesus:

The greater the challenge, the less we have to start with, the more we can expect God's abundance.

In other words, the Church must start with whatever resources that is available, take the challenge by faith and we will see the miracles of God!

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

The Crime of Suicide

The word suicide does not occur in the Bible. The BBC English Dictionary says, "People who commit suicide deliberately kill themselves". In other words, it is an act of taking one's own life. It is an act of murder. It is an act of taking a life created by the Creator deliberately.

In the International Standard Bible Encyclopeadia, the word "Suicide" is listed under "Crime". It says:

"No special law is found against this crime, for it is included in the prohibition against killing. Contrary to the practice and the philosophy of paganism, the act was held in deep abhorrence by the Hebrews because of the high value placed on human life. It was held inexcusable that any but the most degraded and satanic should lay hands on their own lives. Only the remorse of the damned could drive one to it".

In other words, suicide is driven by the remorse of the damned. Only the condemned and satanic demon possessed/oppressed person who shows remorse, without repentance, will be driven to commit suicide.

I believe no laws were given in relating to suicide in the Old Testament is obvious. The person who had committed suicide could not be punished further. Suicide is the ultimate punishment from God.

Examples of Suicides

I found three examples of suicide in the Bible:

1. King Saul and his armorbearer (2 Samuel 31:4,5).

Saul was the first king of Israel. He was involved in a fierce battle againt the Philistines. The Philistines killed his sons and he himself was severely wounded by the archers. Saul asked his armorbearer to killed him with the sword because he did not want to die in the hands of the uncirumcised Philistines. But, his armorbearer refused. "Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on it". His armorbearer committed suicide the same way.

2. Zimri, the fifth king of Israel (1 Kings 16:8 to 20).

In the beginning Zimri was a servant of king Elah. One day when king Elah was drunk, Zimri killed him and proclaimed himself as king. Later, when Zimri saw that the city Tirzah was taken, "he went into the citadel of the king's house and burned the king's house down upon himself with fire, and died" (1 Kings 16:18, NKJV). His reign lasted only seven days (V. 15) before he committed suicide.

3. Judas Iscariot (Matthew 27:3 to 5)

He was a disciple of Jesus and was chosen for the office of an apostle. He betrayed Jesus. When he saw that Jesus was condemned he was conscience stricken, was remorseful but fell short of repentance (Matt. 27:3). Then, "he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself" (V. 5). He is a clear case of a person driven to suicide by "the remorse of the damned".

Notice that, there are two things in common among all these four persons who committed suicide. They were all wicked and non of them was a born again christian.

Suicides committed by Christians

In my opinion, the crime of suicide committed by a christian is the crime of murder of the worse kind. In other words, a christian who has committed suicide is the worse criminal. There is no chance for him to repent - a dead man cannot repent. Even the worse murderer in the world, even if he is sentenced to death, but under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, before he is hanged, still have a chance for repentance. If he repents, his body may perish but his soul will be saved. A good example is the repentant criminal who was crucified with Jesus (Luke 23:39 to 43).

There is a great difference between repentance and remorse.

According to Nelson's Bible Dictionary "repentance" means, "A turning away from sin, disobedience or rebellion and a turning back to God. True repentance is a 'godly sorrow' for sin, an act of turning around and going in the opposite direction. This type of repentance leads to a fundamental change in a person's relationship with God". In other words, only a true christian can exercise true repentance in true Biblical sense.

The word "remorse" cannot be found in most Bible Dictionaries. According to BBC English Dictionary, "remorse is a strong feeling of regret and guilt about something wrong that a person have done".

My understanding is, "repentance" comes from the spirit of man under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. True repentance must be granted by God (2 Tim. 2:25). The dead spirit of the unregenerated man cannot, by his own free will exercise true Biblical repentanc.

On the other hand, "remorse" is an emotional responce and a feeling of guilt comes from the "conscience" of the regenerated or unregenerated man. It is in the soul life or soul realm of a person.

I believe a truly born again christian, even found to have psychiatric illness, will not resort to end his life by committing suicide. Psychiatric illness is a result of mental and emotional breakdown. This is a disease of the soul life of a person. He still can repent because conviction of sins and repentance come from God's Spirit to his spirit directly bypassing his "wounded" soul. Therefore, even for a christian with an unsound/disturbed mind he still can repent under the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

We must not ignore the possibility of curses affecting the life of a christian who has psychiatric or mental illness.

According to Deuteronomy 28 the related curses of mental illness are:

"The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart" (Deut. 28:28, NKJV, emphasis added).

"So you shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see" (Deut. 28:34, emphasis added).

"..... the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life" (Deut. 28:65,66, emphasis added).

Notice that these curses come from God and not from the Devil. In Proverbs 26:2 Solomon establishes the principle with respect to curses:

"Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight."

The root cause of all these curses is disobedience to God (Deut. 28:15). It is possible that a christian who has mental illness, will not be able to control his own thoughts and emotions and reactions. The key words "confusion", "unexplained fear", and "depression" indicate the result of some form of occult involvement.

In my opinion a truly born again christian will not be driven to suicide. I can only see two reasons why suicide happens to a christian - either he is under a curse or he is not a true christian.

Monday, March 14, 2005

Can a Christian commit the Unpardonable Sin?

Jesus said, "If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that" (1 John 5:16, NKJV, emphasis added).

There is a sin leading to death, and the Scripture says not to pray for those who commit it. I believe this is the "unpardonable sin". There is actually no way we could know whether a particular christian has sinned the sin leading to death or not unless by divine revelation from God.

But, the Scripture does give us guidelines and conditions under which a christian can commit a sin leading to death.

The writer of Hebrews said, "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the power of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame" (Hebrews 6:5,6, NKJV, emphasis added).

Before a Christian could be found guilty of committing the sin leading to death, all five conditions mentioned in the above verses of Scripture must apply to him.

The conditions are:

1. He has been enlightened about the truth of God's Word. Earlier in his life he came under the conviction of his need for a Savior. It is like the prodigal son when he "came to himself" (Luke 15:17).

2. He has tasted the heavenly gift. Which means he has received salvation - received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Jesus is the Heavenly Gift.

3. He has become partaker of the Holy Spirit. He is more than being born again. He is acquainted with the Holy Spirit through His indwelling Presence (John 14:16,17). In other words, he is baptised in the Holy Spirit and at one time filled with the Holy Spirit in his christian walk.

4. He has tasted the good word of God. This means he is a mature and even experienced christian. This cannot apply to a young or baby christian who still on the "pure milk of the word" (1 Peter 2:2). In other words, babes in Christ could not qualify for committing the unpardonable sin because they have not tasted the "solid meat" of God's Word. They are only on the milk of the Word.

5. He has tasted the powers of the age to come. I believe this means he has the gifts of the Holy Spirit operating in his life and ministry following the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Not many babes in Christ have the gifts of the Holy Spirit operating in their lives.

In my opinion, not many believers could qualify to be guilty of committing a sin "leading to death". I can only think of one person I know personally who can qualify and fulfill all the five conditions of committing the unpardonable sin. But, there is no way we can judge. His destiny is in the Hands of God. For the purpose of illustration, I share this with you.

He is a pastor/evangelist who is involved in the ministry of the "Prosperity Gospel" for at least six years.

Qualifications of the "Prosperity Gospel" preacher:

He had been enlightened; he knew his need for a Savior. He had tasted of the Heavenly Gift because he was born again and baptised in the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ had been his Savior and Lord for more than 25 years. This fulfills the conditions 1, 2 and 3. He is a matured christian and in the ministry of preacher/pastor for many years. He has tasted the solid meat of the Word and with gifts of the Holy Spirit operating in his ministry. This fulfills the conditions 4 and 5.

His "prosperity" doctrine

1. Christians must tithe regularly and accurately. Otherwise they will not prosper. They failed in their business because they fail to tithe accurately - exactly 10% of their income.

2. Christians must give a "memorial offering" regularly to the pastors of his church. Otherwise they will not prosper. According to him the "memorial offering" is similar to the fragrant oil that Mary offered to Jesus (Matthew 26:13). His other example is Cornelius' prayer and alms (Acts 10:4). The Lord will always remember the "memorial offering" and grants favour and blessings to christians who give generously. According to him this offering is about twice the amount of tithing.

3. His church is called "The apostolic financial centre" in his city.

4. Whenever he needs money or there is a need to fulfill any financial commitment, he will pray and Jesus will not fail to tell him what stocks and shares to buy. Church members who are interested to know are invited to see him privately to get a word from the Lord on what shares to buy.

5. He said 2007 and 2008 are difficult years and people will experience hyper-inflation and "stag-flation". Every chirstian must "invests" in stocks and shares wisely now.

6. He enjoys high living - He lives in 5-star hotels and eats 5-star food during his mobile ministry.

7. He said he will continue to preach his version of "prosperity gospel" even if most churches have rejected his ministry.

I think we have enough!

Finally, please read Hebrews 10:26 - 29

"For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectationof judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of Grace?" (NKJV, emphasis added).

In my opinion, all preachers of the "prosperity gospel" have insulted the Spirit of Grace!

Sunday, March 13, 2005

Can a Christian Have a Demon?

Before we can answer this question we need to realize that a man is a spirit, he has a soul and he lives in a body. His body is created by God to house his spirit and soul. Before a man is born again God gave him a new spirit to replace his old dead spirit. Then God gives the Holy Spirit to him to reside in his new spirit at the moment his is born again. The man's spirit now quickened by the Holy Spirit enables him to relate to God. Please read my earlier posting - "Christian's New Heart" for more details.

We must also realize there are three separate degrees of demonic influence - oppression, obsession and possession. If a man "gives place to the devil" (Eph. 4:27) then Satan will send demons to oppress him. Later on if he continues to give place to the devil, inevitably he will be obsessed and possessed with demons.

Let us look separately at how Satan and his demons can affect and influence the lives of the natural (unsaved) man and the born again Christian.

The Natural Man

When the natural man is in total demon possession of his whole personality (spirit, soul and body) we can say he is "demonized".

An example of a biblical account of total demon possession is the demonized madman of Gadara in Mark 5:1 - 20. We can learn from this account.

First of all, this mad man was not a Christian; he had never been born again because Jesus had not yet gone to the Cross to purchase mankind's redemption. Notice that at first Jesus commanded the "unclean spirit" to come out, but almost immediately He asked for the name of this unclean spirit, and the demon replied that the name is Legion which refers not only to the name of the unclean spirit but also to its number. There is apparently one unclean spirit, by its name brought in with it many other evil spirits to inhabit the man. This is being described in Matthew 12:43 - 45.

I believe the same principle in Matthew 12 is at work in the life of a person who has been delivered from sickness or disease. Notice that the Scripture calls sickness or disease "devil oppression":

"... God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him" (Acts 10:38, NKJV, emphasis added).

Many times the devil tries to put the same sickness or disease right back on someone who was healed. Then "the last state of that man is worse than the first" (Matt. 12:45). Of course, not every case of sickness and disease is caused by the direct presence of an evil spirit. But sometimes sickness or disease is the result of the presence of an evil spirit that is enforcing the affliction.

I believe that is the reason why it is not enough just to cast an evil spirit out of an unsaved person. His "house" needs the presence of the Holy Spirit to fill the vacuum left by the evil spirit that causes his sickness and disease. In other words, this man needs to be born again by the spirit of God.

The Born Again Christian

As I have said before a Christian's spirit becomes the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him" (John 14:23, NKJV, emphasis added).

In other words, the condition for a person to become a dwelling place of the Spirit of Christ and God is that he must love Jesus and obey His commands.

Paul said, "But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him" (1 Cor. 6:7).

It is obvious that only a true christian who loves Christ and obey His Word has the Holy Spirit dwelling in his "inner most being - his heart" and he becomes one spirit with Christ.

This is the condition by which he cannot have a demon. In other words, the true christian cannot be demonized.

But, he still can be oppressed and obsessed in his body and soul if he "gives place to the devil" (Eph. 4:27) in his christian walk.

The first place Satan starts to work is in the mind. One of his greatest and most powerful weapons is the weapon of suggestion. I believe by not "giving place to the devil" means not giving him any place in our thought life. Any christian can be oppressed by an evil spirit. No christian is immune to Satan's suggestions and oppression, but we don't have to yield to his suggestions. We have the authority in Christ Jesus over any oppression the devil tries to bring against us.

Paul said, "Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (Gal. 5:16,25, NKJV, emphasis added).

One way of giving place to the devil is "lust of flesh" - also "lust of eyes and pride of life". Jesus Himself was tempted by the devil with these temptations (Matt. 4:1 -11). Jesus at all times filled with the Spirit of God did not at any time gave place to the devil.

Demons can still cause sicknesses and diseases to the christian's body and soul life. Otherwise, we are tempted to believe that all christians are sickness free and disease free and we know this is not true. Just as in the case of the unsaved man not all sicknesses are attributed to demon oppression.

Saturday, March 12, 2005

What Jesus said about "Thieves and Robbers" in John 10?

After the healing of a man who was born blind, Jesus was approached by the Pharisees who did not believe. Jesus said they were actually spiritually blind and not physically blind. If they were blind they would have no sin.

Jesus told them this parable (or figure of speech according to the NIV):

"I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for them, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice. Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to stell and kill and destroy, I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:1 to 10, NIV, emphasis added).

Take note of the following:

1. Jesus is the gate for the sheep. The watchman or gate keeper is probably an angel of the Lord. Some Bible teachers said the watchman is God. But, I do not think so, because the watchman is a hired servant.

2. Jesus is the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6). Anyone who enters the sheep pen (or sheepfold) through "the way and the truth and the life" will be saved.

3. The Church is likened to a flock of sheep (Ezek. 34:1 - 19; Jer. 33:1 - 4). So, the only way for a pastor (a shepherd) to enter the Church of God a is by believing on Jesus and obeying His Word, His Truth and His Commands. Only a true sheperd of the Lord's sheep has the divine authority to enter the gate.

4. Within the context of this parable, the religious teachers and the Pharisees claimed to be teachers and pastors, but the gate of the sheep pen was not opened for them. They failed to obey Jesus but denied Jesus as the only way, the truth and the life. They entered some other way. Therefore, Jesus considered them as thieves and robbers. Similarly, the true pastor of the Church of God are called to the ministry and anointed by the Holy Spirit to fulfill his calling. He is under divine authority and gifted according to his calling to shepherd the flock of God.

5. A thief is one who silently and secretly takes away the property belongs to another. A robber is one who does it violence and bloodshed. To the Pharisees and the ministers of His Church who are not called, Jesus gave the name of thieves and robbers. Those who are not called usually seek the office from ambition, from love of power and recognition to promote their own interests.

Finally, if you have read my earlier posting of "Divine authority and Headship" you will realize that if a woman pastor is ever called by God to be a shepherd of the Lord's flock, God has to change His Word. If God will not change His Word, then no woman pastor would be called and come under the Divine Authority to enter the sheep pen by way of the gate. Because the gate keeper will not allow any one to come in by way of the gate with divine authority, she must enter the sheep pen by some other ways. This is a logical conclusion.

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Christian's New Heart

The word "heart" is used in a variety of ways in Scripture. At times it is used to mean the human spirit; the innermost part of the person's being.

The writer of Hebrews said, "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinked from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pre water" (Hebrews 10:22, NKJV, emphasis added).

In other words, the heart is the seat of conscience, the "spirit" man.

At other times, it refers to the soul, or one particular function of the soul which consists of the intellect, mind, will, feeling and emotion of a person. And, there are occasions when it signifies the spirit and soul together. An example is:

"Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord" (Psalm 27:14, NKJV, emphasis added)!

The heart is also the seat of understanding - the intellect:

"Who has put wisdom in the mind? Or who has given understanding to the heart" (Job 38:36)?

Notice that understanding comes from the heart and wisdom comes from the mind.

When we consider the spirit and soul of a person together as his heart, it determines his personality, character and attitude. A good example is:

"But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart" (Jeremiah 5:23).

Let us now look at the differences between the old heart and the new heart of a person.

The Old Heart

Before a person is born again, he has a dead spirit. His heart is corrupt because of self-motivation from his dead spirit. It is at the mind of a person that Satan builds his strongholds (read 2 Cor. 10:4,5). Because his spirit dead, demons can come in and "demonize" the person. In other words, he can be possessed by demons.

Jesus said, "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies" (Matthew 15:18,19, NKJV).

In other words, whatever exists within the heart will be expressed in a person's words and deeds. If the heart is corrupt or unclean, then he will speak and act in ways unacceptable to God. Notice that in all His teaching, especially His preaching on the Beatitudes (Matt. 5) Jesus aimed at the heart. If the heart is pure and consecrated to God, the person's thoughts, attitudes, words and actions will be pure and so glorify God.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt, 5:8).

Because of the sinful nature of the heart in the natural (unregenerated) man, it proved impossible for him to keep all the commands of Christ and so he is not able to please God, or make himself acceptable to Him, through his own determined strength and efforts.

The New Heart

The New Covenant is foretold by the Lord through Ezekiel concerning the need of a new heart.

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statute, and you will keep My judgments and do them" (Ezekiel 36:26,27, NKJV, emphasis add).

Notice, the Lord will give three things, a new heart, a new spirit and His Spirit. First, He must take away the heart of stone (the old heart) and replaces it with a new heart in a person. This is to prepare him to receive a new spirit. Then He puts a new spirit in him. The moment a person repents of his sins and turns to God, He puts His Spirit within the person. This new heart with the new spirit quickened by the Holy Spirit will enable a born again person to walk with Him and to keep His commands.

Only God can give a new heart. Religious people try to rebuild or "renovate" the old corrupt heart of a person. It is like putting a rotting apple into a refrigilator. They can slow down the corruption process but the apple still not edible. A religious person may try to do good works or try to act blamelessly before men, but all their efforts are futile in the sight of God!

When a person is born again by the spirit of God, God's spirit is in the new heart of this regenerated person. This enables him to relate to God and to worship Him in spirit and in truth. God sees him as a son:

Paul said, "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His son into your hearts, crying out 'Abba, Father!' Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ" (Gal. 4:6,7).

Paul also said, "Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee" (2 Cor. 1:21,22).

Galatians 5:16 - 26 gives a clear picture of the fruitfulness of a person with a new heart and a new spirit. The new spirit in a person led by the Spirit of God enables a person's soul under the control of his spirit so that he is set free to worship God and to do the things of God effectively.

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

True Biblical Prosperity

True prosperity or the "gospel (good news) of prosperity" is very much different from the deceptive "Prosperity gospel" that most of us have heard. I intend to post a message on "Prosperity gospel" at a later date. But, let us first look at the meaning of true prosperity provided by God.

Although the pairs of words like "rich and riches", "wealth and wealthy", "proper and prosperity" and "abundant and abundance" are often mentioned in the Bible, prosperity and abundance are often emphasized.

To the people of the world, someone who has considerable financial and material assets is considered rich and wealthy. But, christians must only look at "abundance and prosperity" under the light of the Scripture. The promises and provisions of God for His covenant people are - to be prosperous in all areas of their live, having abundance and having no want or lack at any time.

John wrote to Gaius, a brother in the Faith, "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth (3 John 1,2, NKJV, emphasis added).

Notice that, the three promises, prosper in all things, good health and prosper of the soul are provided for christians who walk in the truth. People of the world may be rich, wealthy and possess great financial and material assets, but not many of them have good health in body, soul and spirit.

I believe, true abundance really means we have all that we need, and have something to spare to give to others.

Paul said, "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have abundance for every good work" (2 Cor. 9:8, NKJV, emphasis added).

The word "all" appears 3 time. When God gives, He gives all and never in parts. God know every good work needs money or other resources to accomplish, and He provides abundantly for His purpose.

But, there are conditions attached to most of God's promises of prosperity.

As an example, let us consider what David, the psalmist said:

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want .... " (Psalm 23:1, NKJV). Some translations say, "I shall not lack nothing".

To lack nothing actually means being prosperous. So, the condition for prosperity is to make the Lord our shepherd.

Jesus, the good Shepherd said:

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" (John 10:27).

The above verse is very precise and very practical. He wants His people to hear His voice and to do what he says. A person who does not hear the Lord's voice and obey Him is not a christian - he is not His sheep.

Therefore, on the basis of the Scripture (Psalm 23) a true christian will lack nothing. It follows that every christian should be prosperous!

There are other conditions. The psalmist said:

"Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing" (Psalm 34:9,10. emphasis added).

"For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory, no good thing will He withhold from those who walk unrightly" (Psal 84:11, emphasis added).

When we consider the above verses of Scripture we see 3 other conditions for prosperity.

1. Fear the Lord.

2. Seek the Lord.

3. Walk uprighty.

There is a parallel truth seen in the ministry of Joshua and the ministry of Jesus. Joshua was chosen by God to bring Israel to the promised land. On the other hand, Jesus, the Son of God, brings christians to the land of promises.

God said to Joshua:

"Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful" (Joshua 1:8, NIV, emphasis added).

The three conditions for Israel to fulfill are:

1. Do not let the Book of the Law depart from the mouth.

2. Meditate on the Law of God day and night.

3. Do what is required written in the Law of God.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

"For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ. And so through him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God" (2 Cor. 1:20, NIV, emphasis added).

In other words, all the promises of God , both in the Old Testament and the New Testament are for those in Christ. That means all true believers are included! If you are not "in Christ" then you are not a christian. It is the will and glory of God if christians believe and receive the promises of God. We give God the glory if we say "Amen" to His promises.

I believe the promises of God is the expression of what He wants to do for us. The fulfillment of God's promises does not depend on our situation (eg Israel in the wilderness), but depends on us meeting His conditions. God is the only sourse of riches and wealth.

Moses said, "But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so cofirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today" (Deu. 8:18, NIV, emphasis added).

David prayed to God, "Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things" (1 Chro. 29:12, NIV, emphasis added).

Deuteronomy 28 gives the conditions for receiving all the blessings of God - including overall prosperity.

The conditions are - God's people must fully obey the Lord their God and carefully follow all His commands. (Verse 1).

Moses said, "Therefore keep the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do" (Deu.29:9, NKJV, emphasis added).

For christians, "the words of the convenant" includes all words and commands of Christ.

The key to properity - prosper in all that we do, is to know and fear God and be "doer and hearer of His Word" (James 1:22, 23). Any christian who compromises the truth of God's Word cannot claim to be doer of His Word!

Monday, March 07, 2005

How to Come to Terms with Tsunami and Other Disasters - Biblically

It was reported to Jesus that some Galileans were killed by Pilate while they were offering sacrifices of animals at the temple. The response of Jesus was quite amazing:

"And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no, but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eigheen on whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwell in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:2 - 5, NKJV, emphasis added).

I believe if Jesus was walking with us when the Tsunami struck, some of us would ask Him the same question and He would give the same answer.

Most of us are quick to make assessment of the outcome of any disasters with our human wisdom and presumptuousness. It is so tempting to say that God was pronouncing judgement to those who perished in the midst of the tsunami and earthquakes because they were greater sinners. I have even heard christians said, those holiday-makers who perished in these disasters were worse sinners because they were worldly and did not care about anything but to enjoy themselves.

You see, Jesus did not deny that judgement of God is coming, but He divorced Himself in exercising justice to a particular group of people at a particular situation and time. He was not heartless in his assessment of the situation. He said, "Unless you repent you will all likewise perish" twice in the above verses of Scripture. He says, all are sinners and unless they repent they will all perish, perhaps in different situations or circumstances. In His eyes there is no such thing as worse sinners or sinners of lesser degree. But there is such thing as repentance.

The fact is that the earth is degrading and perishing due to the increase of sin of mankind.

The earth was created perfect (Gen. 1:10).

Read also:

"For this is what the Lord says - he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited - he says: 'I am the Lord, and there is not other'" (Isaiah 45:18, NIV).

But due to the increase of man's sin everything will be destroyed and God is creating a new heaven and new earth for those who seek repentance (Revelation 21:1).

Peter said,

"Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the to the day of God and speed its coming" (2 Peter 3:11,12, NIV, emphasis added).

Notice that God is looking for the "kind of people" with godly and holy conduct and character. His emphasis is not on what we can do in our christian and Church activities.

For christians who say they need no repentance I suggest they read what Paul said:

"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, trators, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power, And from such people turn away! (2 Timothy 3:1 to 5, NKJV, emphasis added).

Notice that there are 18 moral blemishes listed by Paul. The kind of people living with these blemishes do not have the godly and holy conduct and character that God seeks after. Christians who turn away from such people have a good start in seeking repentance.

Notice also that "such people" are christisns because they "have a form of godliness".

The Holiness and Righteousness of Lot

We have seen in my other postings that the purpose of the sanctification process is to make one holy - not only holy, but also righteous. A holy person is also a righteous person. According to the Nelson's Bible Dictionary "righteous living" means "holy and right living according to God's standard".

Let us study the life of an Old Testament character.

Lot was quite a unique person. Abraham gave Lot the choice of land, and Lot chose the well-watered furtile land of Sodom as opposed to the rocky hill country where Abraham dwelled (read Gen. 13). This shows that Lot was a type of carnal, fleshly and worldly person, walked by sight and not by faith in contrast to Abraham, a man of faith. But, in the sight of God he was a righteous man.

"He (God) rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his rughteous soul by lawless deeds he saw and heard)" (2 Peter 2:7, NIV, emphasis added).

I believe Lot was considered righteous because he feared God and walked right with God. Lot was also considered godly because "the Lord knows how to rescue godly men (such as Lot) from trials" (2 Peter 2:9).

Lot did a few things that pleased God, but first let us look at the sins of Lot.

Lot's sins

1. Lot lived by sight and not by faith in contrary to 2 Cor. 5:7.

2. Lot gave in to temptation in the beginning because of his fleshly desire. At first the only "pitched his tent toward Sodom" (Gen. 13:12). But, later on he became comfortable and "dwelt" in Sodom (Gen. 14:12).

3. Lot "was sitting in the gateway" of Sodom (Gen. 19:1). In Old Testament time only a high government official had the authority to sit at the gateway of a city. In a sense, he was found "unequally yoked together with unbelievers" (2 Cor. 6:14). Lot must have compromised his standing with God - like a christian politician working in a wicked city or country at the present time.

4. Lot failed to obey God. He lived contrary to Psalms 1:1 "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful"

Paul said, "Do not be deceived: 'Evil company corrupts good habits.'" (1 Cor 15:33).

Lot's righteous acts

1. Lot showed hospitality to strangers and literally entertained the angels of God (Hebrews 13:2).

2. Lot offered to sacrifice his two virgin daughters' honour to save his special guests. Lot knew that they were angels because he "bowed himself with his face toward the ground" when he first met them (Gen. 19:1). To offer his daughters might not be the righteous act, but he knew those homosexuals would not harm his daughers. This was an act of mercy towards the angels that pleased God (James 2:13). His priority was right before God.

3. Lot walked right with God and pleased God while dwelling in Sodom. God knew Lot's heart because in the midst of the wicked, he was tormented but did not give in to temptation (2 Peter 2:8). A wicked person would give in to temptation.

God's mercy on Lot

1. God was faithful to Lot and provided him a way of excaping temptation while Lot was dwelling in Sodom (1 Cor 10:13).

2. God delivered Lot out of temptation (2 Peter 2:9).

3. God's mercy on Lot triumphed over His judgement because Lot had shown mercy to the angels of God (James 2:13).

Intercession of Abraham

Notice that both God and Abraham agreed that Lot was a righteous man. Genesis 18:22 says Abraham "stood before the Lord" while the two angels went on their way to judge Sodom. In other words, Abraham stood between the Lord and the city of Sodom, the object of God's impending judgement. This is a perfect example of intercession. Notice that intercession is very different from supplication and the prayer of petition. The real purpose of intercession is not for us to get God to do what we want. We intercede because we want to become instruments to God to do what He wants. Notice that Abraham did not beg for God's mercy on Lot - which is supplication. All Abraham did was reasoned with God (Isaiah 1:18) and God agreed with Abraham that Lot was righteous. What pleased God most was Abraham had conviction of God's absolute justice.

I believe the Lord knew the heart of Abraham and delighted in his intercession. The two angels were already on their way to Sodom to test Lot and to save him if he was found blameless. A law of God is - "The soul who sins shall die" (Ezekiel 18:20,21).

Finally, what I want to emphasize is that the whole episode of Lot, Sodom and Abraham's intercession paints an accurate picture of the real-life situation some christian families are facing now.

This is how I understand it:

Our son (or daughter) - a type of Lot - leaves home to study or work in a distant city that offers great opportunities - a type of Sodom. It is the responsibility of the father - a type of Abraham - to intercede for him whenever possible. There are many cities all over the world fit the description of Sodom and Gomorrah. Homosexual activities may not be the only sin. What about sexual immorality and other sins or moral blemishes listed in 2 Tim. 3:1 - 5? It is certainly very easy for a christian to fall and give in to temptation. Surely we want our children to walk in holiness and righteousness with the strength of God to resist all forms of temptations. The intercession of the father will certainly help.

Sunday, March 06, 2005

New Testament Personal Holiness

Personal holiness is God's will for all believers and all are called to perfect holiness in their christian walk.

The writer of Hebrews has given a very profound and somewhat frightening statement:

"Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14, NKJV, emphasis added).

Now, compare this with what Jesus said to Nicodemus:

"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3, emphasis added).

A king rules in a kingdom. Every kingdom has a king and a king without a kingdom cannot be legally called a king. Therefore, when it is said that a person cannot see God (the Lord or the King) is same as saying he cannot see the Kingdom of God. With reference to the above verses of Scripture we come to the logical conclusion that without holiness a person will not see or meet God. His spiritual condition is same as that before he was born again. In other words, he is lost, he is outside the Kingdom of God and stalls in the salvation process. He is no different from an unbeliever. His destiny is same as that of an unsaved person.

Therefore, all christians must personally seek after holiness, without which no one will finally be saved. Personal holiness is so important that Paul appealed to his fellow believers to join him in the pursuit of it:

"Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1, emphasis added).

"These promises" are promises in the previous 2 Verses (2 Cor. 6:17,18). In other words, geniune christians must firstly, "come out from among them" (unbelievers) and be separate (act of sanctification) and secondly, do not touch anything unclean. These are the conditions for believers to come into the presence of God. After being received by God, christians are to perfect holiness in the fear of God.

"Filthiness of spirit" means "the spirit of the believer has been made filthy (or unclean) by acts of worship of other gods which is same as committing spiritual adultery"

"Filthiness of the flesh" means "the filthiness comes from committing sexual immorality" (Read 1 Cor. 6:16,17,18).

Achieving personal holiness is not something that God will do for us. It is something that God offers us the grace to do for ourselves. A God fearing chirstian will have the desire to "perfecting" holiness as Paul said. Since holiness needs to be "perfected' in the chirstian walk, it indicates that salvation is is not a static condition, it is a way of life. Holiness is progressive just as righteousness is progressive.

Consider the following:

"Yet the righteous will hold to his way, and he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger" (Job 17:9).

"But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day" (Proverbs 4:18).

Therefore, the righteousness of the just will grow stronger and stronger and his path will shines brighter and brighter until perfection. I believe this is what God wants to see in our walk of holiness and sanctification.

The Scripture reveals that only those who are made holy by sanctification are brothers to Jesus. In fact they are one with Christ.

"For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren" (Hebrews 2:11).

Notice that only christians who are brothers to Jesus will "joint heirs with Christ" and receive an inheritance from God.

"The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Ghrist, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together" (Romans 8:16.17).

Understanding Holiness

Holiness is the eternal nature of God. God is uniquely holy. In fact, the main reason why we worship God is because He is holy, and worship is our response to the holiness of God. Someone said, we thank God for His Goodness; we praise God for His Greatness and we worship God for His Holiness.

All covenant children of God (both Old and New Testaments) are called to be holy. But, there are two entirely different ways to holiness.

Old Testament Holiness

"For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy" (Lev. 11.45, NKJV, emphasis added).

"And that you may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for you God" (Numbers 15:40, emphasis added).

In the contexts of the above verses, we learn that the way to holiness for all Israel under Moses Law was by keeping the commandments of God and the entire Law all the time. The Law was a complicated set of rules and regulations. It was a full time job for Israel to keep the Law of Moses. But none was able to keep the Law successfully. Therefore none of them were holy in the sight of God.

God gave His reason why He wanted His Covenant people to be holy:

"And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine" (Lev. 20:26).

In other words, unless Israel is holy and separated from other peoples, God would not receive them as His people.

New Testament Holiness

"But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy'" (1 Peter 1:15,16, emphasis added).

God's Will for His New Covenant people is also to be holy.

Let us now consider what Paul said to the elders of the Church in Ephesus:

"So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified" (Acts 20:32, emphasis added).

Notice that the word "sanctified" or "sanctification" comes from the Greek word "hagiazo" which means "to be made holy" or "set apart and consecrated to be holy".

There are two promises in Acts 20:32:

1. Inheritance of God are for those who are made holy.

2. The Word of God are able to build us up and make us holy.

At the commission of Paul, Jesus said to him:

"I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me" (Acts 26:17,18, emphasis added).

In other words, the way to holiness is made possible by faith in Jesus Christ. Sanctification is part of the salvation process and those who are made holy will receive an inheritance.

God provides many ways by which christians can be sanctified or made holy.

1. By the Wod of God or the truth of God's Word.

Jesus said, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth" (John 17:17,19).

Read also Eph. 5:26,27 - Christ sanctifies the Church with the washing of water by the Word.

2. By the Holy Spirit.

".... because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth" (2 Thess. 2:13).

Read also 1 Peter 1:2

3. By the Blood of Jesus.

"Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate" (Hebrews 13:12).

Read also 1 Peter 1:2

4. By God Himself.

"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thess. 5:23).

This is God's provision for making christians fit to be the bride of Christ, through the process of sactification, so that Christ's bride is found blameless and made whole at the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Local Church, where Jesus is the Head, is the place appointed by God to prepare the bride of Christ through the process of sanctification.

The New Testament Anointing

In the Old Testament, prophets, priests and kings were anointed by olive oil (speaks of the Holy Spirit) to perform the duties of their callings. In the New Testament all who are Christ's are priests and kings (Revelation 5:10) in the spiritual sense and they receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit from God Himself to perform the duties of their callings.

"Now He who established us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God" (2 Cor. 1:21, NKJV).

I believe an important spiritual principle is, no one is considered fit to work the works of God unless he is truely anointed by the Holy Spirit.

The New Testament Scripture reveals three ways by which the Holy Spirit can affect the life of the believer. The holy Spirit can be with the believer, in the believer and upon the believer.

Jesus said, "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever - the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you" (john 14:16,17, emphasis added).

In the above context, Jesus was speaking to His disciples. I believe when Jesus said, "he may abide with you forever" He meant the Holy Spirit will dwell with them and in the midst of their gethering together. This, in fact is the foreshadow of what Paul said in 1 Cor. 3:16,17, the Church (an assembly of believers) is the temple of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus said, "and will be in you" He meant the Holy Spirit will dwell in individual believers. This again, is the foreshadow of what Paul said in 1Cor. 6:19,20, the individual believer is the temple of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit dwells inside him.

Notice carefully that, without the Holy Spirit abiding with or in the individual person, no one will get to know the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in an intimate way. Also, no one can be saved:

"And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (John 16:8).

An unregenerated person without the conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment to come will not repent.

Jesus said, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; ..."(Acts 1:8).

This is how and when the "anointing of the Holy Spirit" came upon the believers (who have already received the Holy Spirit when they first believed) on the Day of Pentecost and subsequently, after the Baptism of the Holy Spirit for all christians. It is the manifestation of the presence of God that gives power to work the works of God.

Jesus said, "Behold, I send the Promise My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high" (Luke 24:29, NKJV, emphasis added).

In other words, Jesus said believers must be baptised in the Holy Spirit before they are empowered to be effective witnesses for Him so as to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19).

The Scripture says that Jesus needs the anointing of the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor ...." (Luke 4:18, emphasis added).

Take note of the word "upon". Jesus was anointed because the Holy Spirit came upon Him, not only because He is the Son of God.

My opinion is, if Jesus needs the anointing of the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel and to work the works of God, how much more christians needs the same anointing to do likewise. Therefore, any Local Church that plans to send out missioneries who are not baptised in the Holy Spirit is wasting their time and financial resourses. In fact, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is only the inituial stage. A chrisian in any ministry also needs to walk in the Spirit to maintain the anoiting.

If we ignore the works of the Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts we will not be able to understand what is the true anointing of God. The Book of Acts is full of examples of the working of miracles of the early christians because of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The anointed preaching of Peter and Stephen; the opening of prison doors (Acts 5:19); miracles of divine healing (Acts 3:1 to 8) are some examples.

Many christians who are not baptised in the Holy Spirit fail to understand that everything written in Acts is the Word of God and still holds true today. Because of unbelief, they presumptuously say that the days of the apostles are over, and none of the works of miracles and other manifestations of the Holy Spirit will happen again. Jesus Himself said miracles and signs will only follow those who believe (Mark 16:17). It is always, believing is seeing.

The Scripture says, an unbelieving heart is an evil heart.

The writer of Hebrews said, "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God" (Hebrews 3:12, emphasis added).

We can look at it this way. If a person do not believe everything God says in His word, it is tantamount to telling God that He is a liar and cannot be trusted!

If we do not see miracles in our Local Churches today, it is because we have grieved and quenched the Holy Spirit and therefore there is no true anointing in our meetings. When this happens many Churches use soulish substitutes for the true anointing of the Holy Spirit in all their activities - Worship, praise, singing, praying and preaching. Human wisdom takes the place of divine wisdom; theology instead of revelation; exercising blind faith instead of genuine faith. Seek to please men instead of seeking to please God.

Saturday, March 05, 2005

God's Principle of Church Growth

Jesus said to Peter, "... I will build My church ...." (Matt. 16:19)

Paul said, "I planted, Apollo watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God gave the increase." (1 Cor. 3:6,7, NKJV, emphasis added).

The spiritual truth is, the Church is built by God and increases by God. No human wisdom, intellect, ideas, strength or efforts can take the place of God in making the Church grows the way God wants it to grow. No one can boast of his salvation (Eph. 2:9) and similarly no one can boast that the growth of the Local Church is entirely contributed by his hard work and wisdom.

I believe the biblical principle of Church growth can be found in the Book of Acts.

"Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, there were multiplied" (Acts 9:31,NKJV, emphasis added).

The NIV says, "...it was strengthened: and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord".

The Amplified Bible says, "The church ... had peace and was edified - growing in wisdom, virtue and piety - and walking in the repect and reverential fear of the Lord and in the consolation and exhortation of the Holy Spirit, continued to increase and was multified".

It is clear that the Church had peace and were edified and strengthened in the Holy Spirit with wisdom and grew in numbers and was multiplied, because of two important ingredients.

1. Walking in the respect and reverential fear of the Lord.

According to Isaiah, Jesus is filled with the seven-fold manifestations of the Holy Spirit:

"The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of Knowledge and the fear of the Lord" (Isaiah 11:2, NKJV, emphasis added).

The next verse says, Jesus delights in the fear of the Lord.

Notice that, "the fear of the Lord" is a manifestation of the Spirit of the Lord which is the Holy Spirit. If Jesus, being the Head of the Church needs to walk in the fear of the Lord, how much more christians need to walk in the fear of Lord. I believe when the Holy Spirit is in control of his life, the christian will delight in the fear of the Lord. Conversely, when a christian does not walk in the fear of the Lord, he is unlikely to be under the control of the Holy Spirit.

The writer of Hebrews wrote about Jesus, the Great High Priest, "who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear" (Hebrews 5:7).

Jesus' prayer at the Garden of Gethsemane was heard because of His godly fear. He found the Will of God to die for our sins. I believe if we (the Church) fervantly want to find the will of God we must pray with Godly fear. In fact, our prayer may not be heard (let alone getting an answer from Him) if we fail to pray with Godly fear.

The fear of the Lord is so important that, the Bible mentions "fear of the Lord" 27 times, and "fear God" 17 times in the New King James version.

Solomon said, "The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; he will not be visited with evil" (Proverbs 19:23).

In other words, anyone does not want to be "visited with evil" but wants to have a life full of satisfaction he needs to walk in the fear of the Lord.

2. Walking in the comfort and encourgement and exhortation of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is another Comforter who takes the place of Jesus will remain with the believers forever.

Jesus said, "If you love Me you will keep My commands. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener and Standby) and He may remain with you forever" (John 14:15,16, Amplified Bible, emphasis added).

In conclusion, the Church will growth if there is peace which is the result of believers walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit. The Church will not only grow in numbers but also in maturity as well.

Friday, March 04, 2005

God's View of the Chruch

We can look at the Church in two different ways, from God's view and from man's view. I discovered that most Bible Dictionaries describe the Church from man's view. In fact, in most christian books, the Church is often referred to according to man's view. Furthermore, the Church according to man's view, are popular serman topics. All these can be very confusing. Therefore, I do not intend to add another message to make it even more confusing. I believe as long as we fail to look at the Church as God sees it, we will not understand fully God's purpose for the Church. The only thing that is not confusing is what described by Paul in Ephesians 1:22,23 that the Church is the Body of Christ. Seen in this light, the Church is not an organisation but an organism. Every Bible teacher should know at least this truth.

In this message I attempt to look at the Church from God's view according to the Scripture.

The word "Church" is mentioned twice in the Gospel according to Matthew - once as the Universal (or Catholic) Church and once as the Local Church.

This is how Jesus described the Universal Church:

"And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18, NKJV).

The Universal Church as a whole (the Body of Christ) is built by Jesus Himself, and all christians are members of this Body and members to one another. The Head is Jesus Christ who has His headquarters in heaven.

This is how Jesus described the Local Church when He instructed the Local Church how to deal with a sinning brother:

"And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector" (Matt. 18:17).

The Local Church is that part of the Universal Church situated at a particular locality. All christians living in this particular locality are member of this Church and God expects christians to "essemble" together on a regular basis (Hebrews 10:25). It is obvious that when a problem arises in the Local Church it is not possible to get the Universal Church involved in resolving the problem.

The main difference between the Universal Church and the Local Church is that there is only one "Worship Service" for the Universal Church. This will take place in the near future, when the Lord Himself descends from heaven and all true christians (dead or alive) who are members of this Universal Congregation shall meet the Lord Jesus Christ in mid-air (1 Thess. 4:16,17). This is the first and only meeting of the Universal Church under the direction of Jesus Himself as Worship Leader. Notice that only the true christians - the Bride of Christ are qualified to attend this Church Meeting!

On the other hand, the Local Church meets on a regular basis either in a home or in a Church building. But, we cannot assume that every member of the Local Church is qualified to attend the one and only one Universal Church Meeting as the Bride of Christ.

Paul said, God seals the true christians - "The Lord knows those who are His" (2 Tim. 2:19).

Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven" (Matt. 7:21).

In my opinion, the main purpose of the Local Church is to ensure that all members will attend the Universal Church Worship Service! The life of the Local Church should be driven by this hope!

Here are some spititual facts concerning the Christ life and the Christian Church according to God's view.

1. A christian is a spirit being, he has a soul and he lives in a body. The moment a person is born again by the spirit of God he has entered the Kingdom of God on earth.

"He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Col. 1:13,14, NKJV).

"But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Rom. 8:9).

Individual born again believer is also the temple of God. God's Spirit dwells in the spirit of this believer (1 Cor. 6:19).

2. Everything about the existence of the Local Church is spiritual and not physical. God is Spirit, and therefore He cannot dwell in the Local Church if it is merely a physical structure.

"Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are" (1 Cor 3:16,17).

"Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy presthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:4,5, emphasis added).

In other words, all chritians are living stones, and the Church is a spiritual house for living stones.

3. The moment a person is regenerated and born again by the Spirit of God, he autometically becomes a member of the Universal Church. In fact, according to Paul he becomes a member of the Household of God (Eph. 2:19). The only qualification for him to be a member of the Church is his right relationship with the Lord. If he is a member of the Universal Church, he is also a member of the Local Church in the locality where he lives. God places no other requirement for membership of His church.

4. In the Kingdom of God there is no difference between the basic family cell and Chruch which consists of many cell units. It is only the matter of size. God's will and purpose is not for man to be alone. He gives him a wife and a family. When a man believes in the Lord Jesus, he and his household will be saved (Acts 16:31) - albeit individual members of the family who knows how to repent needs the born-again experience. They enter the Kingdom of God and have eternal life and become a church cell unit. Therefore, the very existence of the Church depends on the existence of the family cells of christian believers.

Finally, let me illustrat how confusing it can be if we are to look at the Church from man's view.

A renowned author of a series of books (millions sold) concerning the christian life and the christian Church says,

"Your spiritual family is even more important than your physical family because it will last forever. Our families on earth are wonderful gifts from God, but they are temporary and fragile, ofter broken by divorce, distance, growing old, and inevitably, death. On the other hand, our spiritual family - our relationship to other believers - will continue throughout eternity."

As I understand it, he means only the Church family is spiritual and the relatioship between believers in the Church is spiritual and therefore more important than the relationship between family members in the christian homes, which according to him are merely physical and full of problems.

Confusing? In my opinion, if some individual basic christian family units are in such a deplorable and chaotic condition, the condition of the Church will be even more deplorable and chaotic. Chaotic family units makes a chaotic Church family. In fact the relationship between believers in a Local Church of this nature will not be acceptable to the Lord who is the Head of the Church.

A christian family should not be broken because of divorce, old age, death and children leaving home. I believe the root cause of this problem is, most christians fail to understan the importance of the restoration of the "Elijah Ministry" to the Church which I shared with you in my last two messages.


God's View of the Local Church

My message last week regarding "God's View of the Church" needs some clarification. At the same time I intend to say more about the Local Church this week.

In God's view the Local Church is not one of the Churches in a city or town or village where christians have a choice to make which Church to attend. In fact it is the only Church in a residential locality. This locality can be a city, a town or a village. For example, there is only one Church in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:2), and one in Thessalonica (1 Thess. 1:1). Paul also wrote to Titus, a young pastor, to advice him to put things in order in the Church at Crete and to appoint elders in the Church of every city (Titus 1:5).

In the New Testament Church there is unity of the Local Church and plurality of leadership in a locality. In other words, God's order is, one Local Church with many leaders. But man's order is just the reverse in most cases - many Local Churches with only one leader in a Chruch. If we are to study carefully the Book of Acts and the Epistles we will notice that God does not authorise nor accept plurality of Local Churches within a residential locality, nor He authorises unity of (or singular) leadership within a Church.

Spiritual Leadership

The function of the spiritual leadership in the Local Church is two fold - to rule and to teach. These tasks are carried out by overseers or bishops. Their main qualification is possessing eldership, with a high degree of spiritual maturity. The spiritual ministry is that of a shepherd or pastor. The deacons take care of the material ministry.

To rule

Matthew 18:15,16,17 gives an example of how the Local Church should deal with a sinning brother. Notice that the final "Court of Appeal" is the Church which must have plurality of leaders, because obviously one leader will not do the job properly.

To teach and to decide on the right doctine

Acts 15:22 to 28 gives an example of how the Church in Jerusalem gave the correct teaching to Gentile christians in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. Christians are to abstain from things offered to idols, from eating of blood, from eating of animals strangled, and from sexual immorality. Notice that the decision was made under the direction of the Holy Spirit made manefest in the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit does not speak to a single elder. Paul said in 1 Cor. 2:16, "We have the mind of Christ". No where else can we find in the Scripture that says any single believer has the mind of Christ.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Biblical Giving

This is not another message on the topic of tithing or offering. I have done this many times. But, this time I have something to say about the correct biblical way of giving to God and His work.

The Scripture is very clear, God's covenant people in Old Testament time, gave to God and His work under the Law of tithing in the Old Testament. They tithed out of fear of breaking the Law of Moses. On the other hand, christians who are also God's covenant people, give to God and His work under the Grace of giving which is of freewill. They give out of love for the Lord and His Body (the Church) as moved by the Spirit of God (2 Cor. 9:7). We can say that in the New Testament Church Christians practice "guided" giving and not "forced" giving as those in the Old Testament under Moses' Law did. In my opinion, any Local Church that compels christians to pay tithe, not only acts contrary to the New Testament teaching, but is actually trying to pour new wine into old wineskins (Matt. 9:17).

I have something new to share in this message. You may call it some sort of revelation in a way.

There is no doubt that the Bible does have much to say about money and finances. A good example can be found in 2 Cor. 8.

Paul was writing to the Corinthians about the Macedonian Churches, and he was telling how the Holy Spirit moved on the Macedonians to be generous in their giving. Then he drew a lesson from that.

"Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy (the Macedonian churches's) and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. for I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will" (2 Cor. 8: 2 - 5, NIV, emphasis added).

Paul said that it is God's will that Church members must give themselves first to the Lord, and then give to the Church as moved by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, all Local Churches must ensure all their members give themselves to the Lord first. In other words, the first thing christians have to give to the Lord is not their money, but themselves. That is how it must begin with each of us if we want to please God and do His will. I think this is an important spiritual law for the Local Church and individual believers:

"Do not give our money to God if we have not given ourselves". God wants us and desires us to do His will.

We must begin with ourselves. We cannot buy a good relationship with God with our money. This is how God sees us doing if we give without given ourselves to Him first. Actually, God can get on all right without our money. I believe it is for our benefits that God requires us to give, but he has a command - He wants us first. Then, out of the giving of ourselves, by His grace, the proper New Testament giving will naturally flow.

The Scriptural way of giving oneself to God is explained in Romans 12:1,2.

1. Present his body on the altar of God as a living sacrfice.

2. Be tranformed by the renewing of his mind - conform to the mind of Christ.

3. God's will be made known to him and God's will becomes his will.

Also, he needs to fear God and develops an intimate relationship with the Lord. Only then he knows how to give to the Lord.

Let us study the case of the giving of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1 to 10). We all know that they perished not because they did not give their money, but because they lied to the Holy Spirit. They pretended to have given all, but in actual fact they kept back part of the proceeds from the sell of land.

Please take note of the following:

1. Ananias and Sapphira failed to give themselves to the Lord first. If they had, they would not lie to the Holy Spirit.

2. They would not have perished or even have been punished in any other way, even if they have not given a single "mite" to the Lord (Acts 5:4).

3. No tithing was imposed on the believers in the early Church. I believe if Peter had demanded tithes from Ananias and Sapphira they would be more than willing to give. In this situation they would have given much more than 10% of the proceeds from the sell of their land. They kept back only part of the proceeds.

I just cannot understand why many Local Churches compel church members to give tithes. I still hear preachers say, unless christians tithe properly God would demand tithes from the them in some disastrous ways - their house gets burned down, they will meet with some accidents, their cars will need repairs often, they and their love ones get seriouly ill and so on. This sounds like a serious curse to me! Why put fear to God fearing christians when there is no Scriptural reference to support their beliefs. In fact I heard this sort of "warning" from a brother in Christ within the first month I was saved!

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

A Biblical Way of Commissioning Ministers

The Scripture reveals many biblical ways of doing the right things in the contemporary Local Church, one of which is the commissioning of ministers or sending out of missionaries.

The sending out of apostles from the Local Church at Antioch gives us a pattern of how the present Local Church should follow. Antioch was the first Local Church - "The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch" (Acts 11:26). My opinion is, if the first Local Church did the right thing in commissioning ministers why must the contemporary Church seeks to change anything or tries to improve it?

Read the first 4 verses of Acts 13 carefully:

"Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, 'Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them'. Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus".

Pleas take note of the following observations:

1. The sending out of missionaries from the Local Church is the duty of the Holy Spirit. God uses anointed bible believing, God-fearing and Spirit baptised christians to fulfill this important task. Pastor and leaders who fail to be led by the Holy Spirit and are not sensitive to the Voice of the Holy Spirit are therefore not capable of commissioning any minister or sending out missionary effectively.

2. In the Church at Antioch there were five men with two definite spiritual ministries - Prophet and Teacher of the Word. Notice that Paul (Saul) and Barnabas had the ministries of Prophet and Teacher. They were called apostles only after they were sent out by the Holy Spirit. "Apostle" means just this - the one sent forth. Similarly a disciple of Jesus Christ is called a missionary only after he is sent out to do mission work. Apostle, missionary and other ministers of the Lord's work are job descriptions and not titles.

3. The Church leaders in the Local congregation at Antioch not only prayed, but they also fasted. Furthermore, they did not merely fast privately as individuals, but they fasted together in a prayer group (meaning they ministered to the Lord together). Read Joel 1:14 and Joel 2:15. Ministering to the Lord involves worshipping and fellowshipping with the Lord and fellowshipping with one another in a prayer group.

4. The reward they received was that the Holy Spirit spoke to them directly. I believe the way they heard the voice of the Holy Spirit was through the gift of prophecy or by the gifts of tongues and interpretation of tongues and rhema words.

5. Notice the exact words used by the Holy Spirit. This is very important.

"Separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them" (Acts 13:2, NKJV, emphasis added).

The verb phrase "I have called them" is in the perfect tense. This indicates that God had already spoken privately and individually to paul and Barnabas about the work that He wanted them to do before He spoke publicly concerning them and their work to all the leaders of the Church.

The spiritual principle is: "The Holy Spirit always reveal His calling to the individual christian before He makes known His calling for this individual to the Church". The Church merely serves to confirm the callings of those who are called.

6. The Church a Antioch did not immediately send Paul and Barnabas off on their God-appointed mission. First the leaders set aside further time for fasting and prayer. This was the second time they had fasted and prayed together.

"Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away" (Acts 13:3).

The last thing needs to be done is to commission them (who are the called) by the laying of hands of the leaders of the Church.

I think the reason they did this is obvious. Through their first period of praying and fasting together they received the supernatural revelation of God's plan - His will and purpose - for the apostles. In their second period of prayer and fasting they united together to claim on behalf of Paul and Barnabas the divine grace and power which they would need for the accomplishment of God's plan.

In my opinion, if the contemporary Local Church fail to follow this God ordained method, they are essentially trying to send out missionaries not so much of accomplishing God's plan but man's plan. Very often they make their own plan known to God and ask for His blessings without seeking the involvement of the Holy Spirit. If that is the case, then the purpose of their praying together is merely to ask God to give His "rubber stamp" of approval.

Did the Antioch Church accomplish God's will and purpose?

The following verses of Scripture clearly describe the outcome of the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas into which they had entered by the direction of the Holy Spirit, with prayer and fasting, and with the ordinance of laying on of hands of the elders.

"From there they sailed (back) to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed. And when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened thd door of faith to the Gentiles" (Acts 14:26,27, emphasis added).

Take note of the following:

1. Paul and Barnabas had completed their God-given work. This means that they successfully accomplished their work, without omissions or failure. Someone had said, "God's callings are God's enablings". In other words, when God calls a man to a special task, He also makes available to that man all the means and the spiritual grace required for the complete and successful accomplishment of that task.

2. "God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles" is the evidance that Paul and Barnabas did not beat against closed door. Wherever they went they found that God had gone before them to open the doors and prepare the hearts of the Gentiles to receive Christ.

I believe that is what effective mission work is about. All the success boils down to the power of united prayer and fasting of those who sent them.