April 2019
A Call For The Church To Rise Up
I left New Zealand for a conference in Santa Rosa California, while the country was still reeling from the shocking attack on the Muslim community in Christchurch. Our prayers and support need to continue to be offered to all the victims, their families and for the grief our nation is in. Everyone I meet over here wants to talk about it. The main comments received are, what a great person Jacinda Ardern is, what an incredible response the NZ community has made to the situation and where to from here for NZ?
Obviously, I agree with the first two comments but am not sure what to say about the last. Where to from here? I love our nation and am determined, along with so many others, not to allow ourselves to be identified with this very isolated situation. I agree – “this is not us.”
However, I wish to turn my attention to the church. I am convinced the church, (worldwide) is approaching a whole new season in Christ. I believe there is a call for it to rise up, divest itself of its many false beliefs; like we are getting out of here and that the things of the world have nothing to do with us; and begin to train and equip its people to be salt and light to the community.
At his opening address at this conference Dennis Peacocke said,
“Pastors are not called to create warriors – they are called to create healed people. Only the apostolic and prophetic can create warriors. And right now, the body of Christ is overwhelmingly being led by pastors. They are great for healing the wounded warriors but those with an apostolic and/or prophetic gift must rise up and start creating warriors, train them first for defence and then for offense and put them out into the battle.”
This is not a criticism of Pastors. We need them so much and are so grateful for the wonderful, sacrificial role that they play in caring for us and watching over us with such passion.
However, Ephesians 2:20 tells us that the church must be built on the foundations of the apostles and prophets. These are the people that will produce the warriors (this is spiritual, not physical as in taking up arms) that are needed to confront society in times when evil seems to be running rampant.
Jesus tells us in Matt. 5:13-14 that,
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”
Now is the time for us to be this. The world needs salt and light desperately and we, as Christ’s people, need to sign up for it, in whatever respective gifts and ministries God has called us to.
I want to recommend you have a read of Haggai Ch 1 again and meditate on it over the next period of time. Where do you stand here? Are you caught in a pursuit of your own projects, dreams and ambitions, or are you stirring your passion for the call of God on your life and the opportunities that lie before us all to express His glory?
If you find you are stuck and don’t know how to move forward, email Linda or Natalie and talk about how SRT may be able to assist you.
Until the next time, May the LORD bless you and keep you; May He make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.
Bruce Billington.
Haggai Chapter One
In the second year of Darius the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘This people says, “The time has not come, even the time for the house of the LORD to be rebuilt.”’”
Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying,
“Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?”
Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways!
“You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there isnot enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to putinto a purse with holes.”
Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways!
“Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the LORD.
“You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the LORD of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house.
“Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce.
“I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.”
Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him. And the people showed reverence for the LORD.
Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke by the commission of the LORD to the people saying, “I am with you,’ declares the LORD.”
So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.