A HUGE CHANGE - AT GOD'S LEADING

The change in format continues this week, as we look at Part 2, FROM REVIVAL TO REVELATION and the beginning of Part 3 THE KINGDOM IS ARISING!

Please prayerfully consider what the Lord is saying. 

Thank you.

 

David Tait

Walking With Jesus Ministries

wwj.org.nz

A MUZUNGU’S (White Man’s) THOUGHT – Issue 43 Continued

THE KINGDOM IS ARISING!  

THE CHURCH IS DYING - Part 1 (Last week)

FROM REVIVAL TO REFORMATION – Part 2 (This week) 

THE KINGDOM IS ARISING! – Part 3 (This week and next)

 

FROM REVIVAL TO REFORMATION

But it is not all bad news for He has something better for those who are willing to take the steps He desires of us.

There needs to be a new focus in the church, one of personal reformation of character and godly living rather than expecting God to bring yet another revival that comes with excitement and dies in disappointment. Then we await another one. Joyousness comes, but very few life changes.

I guess that you will have noticed too, that in this century revivals have become less and less common, almost dying out.

Many people are looking forward to a giant revival for that is how they see the working of God.

But God is now doing a new thing, something that will change lives forever! It is called personal reformation!

Reformation is God working in those who choose to fully commit themselves to Him, to bring the character of Jesus into our lives.

Of course, most Christians are not prepared to take this step for they are not willing to make the sacrifice of giving up on their worldly dreams and committing their lives fully to their Lord and Master. Repentance is seen as a one-time event, rather than an ongoing action when we fail, as we all do.

But as time progresses, more and more people round the world are receiving this revelation personally and are changing their lives to fully live for Jesus.

The end times will bring persecution, as we can see is starting to happen today even in Western countries. To be a Christian is becoming regarded as weird, out of kilter with society. As in earlier times, persecution will follow!

For the last century or two, we have lived in a Christian based Western culture. It has been an age where Christianity has not only been encouraged, but has been the foundation upon which secular society has been based. Great developments have been made. However, as man has become more self-reliant through the wealth that has been generated, hearts have turned away from God and become humanist, relying upon themselves and government, not God, when times get bad.

Look at King Solomon in the Old and the Parable of the rich man in the New Testament. Man’s nature hasn’t changed!  For nearly all, wealth leads to our self-nature rejecting God as the foundation upon which we build our lives.

Full out persecution is the time when the church grows and becomes its strongest. Take the growth of the underground church in China as an example.

More and more people round the world are receiving the vision through studying the Bible (all of it, not just the good parts) and listening to the leading on the Holy Spirit.

When the Lord gave me this revelation as a young Christian 25 years ago, very few, if any others I met for a good number of years could understand what I was getting at. It was a lonely and self-questioning time.

One day, perhaps 15 odd years ago, I went to Capetown, South Africa at the start of a ministry tour in Africa. I hopped off the plane dead tired, for it is a long way from New Zealand, where we then lived. I desperately wanted to go to sleep before ministering the next day. However my friend Israel Onoriobe, who is now himself ministering truths of the kingdom round the world, would not let me. I had to go and hear this man speak! I went along and I suddenly awoke! For this man from Singapore, I still don’t know his name, was talking the same stuff the Lord had shown me! You can have no ideas of how relieved I felt after years of rejection!

While I was there I met a number of apostolic type people who also had the same revelation. We all had one thing in common – having gone through tough times in life in various ways. For me it was financial, different things for others.

Since that time many, many people all around the world have received the same revolutionary revelation that has changed their lives.

While not in one place physically, all become united as one in the Spirit.  This endeavour to live lives solely for Christ, wherever they are whatever they do in life, looks to me very much like the Bride of Christ for whom Jesus is returning.

Individual reformation, entering the Holy of holies in Moses Tabernacle, obeying the will of God the Father for us individually, is the revival of today. This prepares those accept the call, to be gradually transformed into the spiritual likeness of Jesus. No-one is yet perfect but all are advancing on an exciting and frightening journey at times, with Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, guiding us into doing the will of God the Father for our personal lives.

 

THE KINGDOM IS ARISING!

I have observed that most Christians spend more time reading and studying from the Book of Acts onwards than absorbing the actual revelation of Jesus himself, in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Each Gospel has a different emphasis designed to appeal to different groups of people. While Mathew Mark and Luke draw on the same source material, there primary audience was…..

MATTHEW – Written primarily to convince the Jews. Hence the heredity of Jesus was most important

MARK - Written to appeal to Romans, who dominated the world at the time. Brief and to the point.

LUKE – Was a doctor, not one of the original disciples, who liked accuracy and details, which was in line with Greek thinking, for they loved debating new ideas.

JOHN – John was Jesus’ best friend, the one who Jesus loved and whose head rested on Jesus’ chest at the Last Supper. In that sense he had greater, more personal insights into the ways and thoughts of his friend and Saviour. John’s gospel therefore, is written primarily to Christians, those who seek the understanding that he had.

Jesus ministry was not about ‘church’ but all about the ‘kingdom’.

While He would minister in the Jewish synagogues, it was not that He approved of them, but it was where he could get an audience. This was the case with Paul also. But when both were rejected by the religious Jews they ministered to the people directly.

Jesus was, and remains, all about the kingdom, the ‘kingdom of God’ or the ‘kingdom of heaven’, which are interchangeable, meaning the same thing. These two appear 162 times in the New Testament, including 145 times in the 4 gospels. Putting that into perspective, it is more than 1.5 times per chapter!

Looking at His parables, you can see they all relate to different aspects of kingdom living.                           

 

It is hard to argue that the kingdom was not the focus of the ministry of Jesus. He came to bring salvation –yes. But his focused on what was meant to be the result of salvation, entry into the kingdom of God.

In the church, the emphasis has been on entering the church, not making disciples of God, not the church, not of the kingdom. To join the traditional or evangelical church you say the (unbiblical) sinners prayer, or similar, and sign the register. In Charismatic and Pentecostal churches you get filled with the Holy Spirit and maybe speak in tongues, then sign the register.

But neither of these qualifies one to enter the kingdom of God! Another step is required, a harder step, one that involves the sacrifice of your life dreams and actions to come into line with those of God the Father for your life.

There is no such thing as a kingdom church. While kingdom principles may be taught, whether they are adopted in your life is between you and God. There is no earthly register to sign but the Book of Life will record it for sure.

THE KEY TO KINGDOM – OBEDIENCE TO GOD THE FATHER

The step of obedience is the one that most Christians are not prepared to take!

As I mentioned earlier, the Lord stopped me and talked to me in an audible voice, one day as I was weeding, freesias actually, for we had 200,000 in the flower farm we were operating at the time. A lot of weeding required!

When He spoke to me he asked me to base His ministry through me, on a verse in the book of Revelation, chapter 12, and verse 11. (Revelation 12:11)

The verse, or at least the first 2 parts of it, had become familiar to me as I was moving from Evangelical to Pentecostal circles.

When you look at the context of the verse, it is talking about overcoming satan. Has the church overcome satan? While some may say they have, from the empirical evidence of the church today it is clear that this is not the case. Satan is active in the world and in the personal lives of Christians to one extent or another. Paul indicates that even he had battles with the flesh, the old man, which caused him to do things he didn’t want to do.

The Lord explained to me what the whole verse meant. Let’s have a look….

They overcame him                                  That is satan (see earlier verses)

By the blood of the lamb                                     Jesus is the Lamb of God

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And by the word of                                               Our testimony comes our mouth, which

Their testimony                                          again comes from our heart, the seat of            

                      In the Traditional/Evangelical churches, you don’t hear this verse quoted, as they only accept the first part of the verse, believing that the Holy Spirit comes when you accept Jesus, therefore no further infilling or baptism is required.

                        In the Charismatic/Pentecostal persuasion, this verse is well known, but only the first 2 parts mentioned above. Many people quote the verse as…..

They overcame him by the blood of the lamb, and by the word of their testimony; FULL STOP!

However, these 2 parts of Revelation 12:11, by themselves, as we can see in our church system today are insufficient to overcome satan. Churches split, ministers fall, and people are not living overcoming lives.

There has to be something missing for satan to be overcome – and there is! For there is yet one further part of the verse to be understood and applied. It is…..

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They loved not their lives so much        Obedience to God the Father’s will

As to shrink from death.                          For our personal life.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is revelation of the kingdom church which is now arising in the form of individuals both inside and outside of all churches. The only qualification is to be sold out to God, obeying Him in every area of our life. 

(Continued next week)

Shurakini

(Thank You)

REPRODUCTION OF NEWSLETTER CONTENT

Most weeks we get enquiries about reproducing, in electronic or print form, articles contained in 'PGIM!' We welcome and encourage you to utilize this material. Freely received, freely given. We would ask though, that the source be acknowledged as an encouragement to others to subscribe to this newsletter also.

CHANGING YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS? NEWSLETTER STOPS COMING?

Each week we can lose up to 2% of our readers when they change email addresses without letting us know. Or sometimes, by your server acting strangely and just cutting us off! If you are about to change your address, please advise us of both your old and new addresses here at
enquiries@wwj.org.nz and we will happily change our records to ensure ongoing delivery. Thanks.

Please also keep our address in your address book, as sometimes servers will automatically delete your address if there is even a one off problem in delivery. If your newsletter doesn't arrive, please let us know and we will reinstate you.

LINKS

If you would like to link your web site to ours, and ours to yours, please advise us on
links@wwj.org.nz

ABOUT US

WALKING WITH JESUS MINISTRIES is a non-profit, non-denominational, Bible based ministry located in Hastings, New Zealand. A ministry dedicated to developing discipleship, fostering unity amongst God's people to achieve the Great Commission, and in doing so, preparing for Christ's return. It is securely based upon the foundational principles of the Apostles Creed while recognising the wide and rich diversity of beliefs amongst Christians in other areas. In accordance with the Lord's direction, materials produced by the ministry are available, free of charge, to genuine enquirers upon request. The ministry is solely funded by donations, as the Lord provides. A list of materials available (plus some fun!) is obtainable and freely downloadable from our website
wwj.org.nz or by contacting us as follows.

Walking With Jesus Ministries
7 Bull Street
Ahuriri
Napier
New Zealand

Phone: (06) 835 0567 International (+64) 6 835 0567

Email: enquiries@wwj.org.nz
Web: wwj.org.nz

Our role is to bless and encourage those in ministry while promoting co-operation and unity of direction amongst the body of Christ, as emphasised 3 times by Jesus in His longest prayer, immediately prior to His arrest and crucifixion. "... so that they may be one as we are one." (John 17:12, 21, 23-4) Our website is currently being developed to encourage your participation one with another, to share resources, and to enable you to promote events and items of interest to the body as a whole - and have a smile while doing it!

For comments upon and contributions to this service, please contact
david@wwj.org.nz