A Weekly World Wide Word of Encouragement to those in the Ministry
PRAISE GOD IT’S MONDAY!
A WEEKLY ‘WWW (world-wide word) OF ENCOURAGEMENT’
TO THOSE IN MINISTRY
A FREE service, currently connecting with Christian leaders from 3,000 denominations and ministries, in 70 countries.
Issue No: 332 Published: 03 Mar 2008
TRANSFORMATION OF THE CHURCH: 3. FROM KINGS TO KINGDOM (continued)
We now come to the two churches with whom Jesus did not find fault. If we are truly honest with ourselves, we are unlikely to want to belong to either of them!TO THE CHURCH IN SMYRNA
8 “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 9 I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. (Revelation 2:8-10a)
The church is poor. Of course we all know that poverty means that we aren't receiving the blessing of God, don't we? That is what prosperity teachers preach and is the prevailing belief of most Christians, without a doubt! Whether travelling in countries, rich or poor, ministering to rich churches or poor, almost without exception, the concept of material blessing being a sign of God's favour is a fundamental belief.
Yes, we humanise so many things. In a worldly sense it is better to be rich than poor. Personally I have known both extremes twice in my life, having been a millionaire, then a bankrupt, and repeating the experience. Humanly speaking it is nicer to have money than not to have it! Even in the human view of the spiritual, one is able to support and help others far more when you have the means to do so.
Yet, in the end, as we can see in the church at Smyrna, God is looking for something different. The first and foremost thing is a deep personal relationship with you and with me. His desire is for us to have a full trust in, and dependence upon, Him.
As we found out last week, this wasn't happening at the richest of the 7 churches, the one that mankind would view as the most successful, that at Laodicea. Jesus, in fact saved His most scathing criticism for these seemingly successful, self confident people. I have been privileged to visit many churches, both rich and poor. Almost all those who are rich are super confident that what they are doing is God's way, when usually it is patently obvious that it is not. The worship may be technically superb with an apparent anointing created by excellence. The preaching is likely to have good content and be well presented by a powerful orator and leader of people. On the surface, all appears to be brilliant, a superbly stage managed presentation to gladden the hearts and lift the spirits of the congregation. Then enters the Holy Spirit! He wants to do things His way. Oops! He is going to upset our perfect church! I will let you muse over the end result for yourself!
On a personal level, I can testify that I have got far closer to God in times of bankruptcy than in times of plenty. My first bankruptcy brought me 'to' Jesus, my second took my 'into' Jesus. There is a huge difference.
After the first bankruptcy God restored business success. At this time I held the pen while the Holy Spirit wrote the 'Walking With Jesus' discipleship course. I was able to print and distribute 6,000 copies free of charge to people in New Zealand and worldwide, all from the profits of the business. Amazing - yes! Helping others - yes! Spreading the Word - yes! Successful and blessed by God - yes! Was I confident in God? Yes!
Then a second bankruptcy! One created by a lack of wisdom in trying to provide funds for myself to enter full time ministry without being a burden on others. A laudable goal? In a human sense - yes! In God's plan - no, and no again!
For you see, He wanted me to rely fully upon Him. Not only in the material, but also in the spiritual. So He took me through a wilderness experience of 5+ years. He gave me revelation and understanding that no one wanted to hear. It was a lonely walk, battering my head again and again against a brick wall. "God, am I right or wrong? Is it really you Lord, or my fertile imagination? Lord, why will nobody understand! Lord, I have given up everything for you, I have immersed myself in your Word, yet I am rejected seemingly everywhere."
I even ministered overseas, being listened to politely, but not really understood.
It was not until my third trip to Africa that things changed. Tired after a 14 hour flight, I was taken off the plane to a meeting my friend was running. I will never forget that day! There was a Singaporean speaking. I wanted to go to sleep, but when I heard His words, I immediately awoke! Here, for the first time in, by now 7 years, I heard someone else speaking out the same revelation that I had been given! What a relief! "Lord, it is not just me! Thank you Lord!"
Over the next few days I met a number of people who had also had a similar understanding. Upon speaking to them, without exception, all had been through a wilderness period, a period of rejection, a time of death to self, before coming back into ministry at a new, far deeper level than they had been at previously.
On my last trip through South Africa, a trip of faith on 50 cents a day, I found that there were now churches whose people were starting to understand, and trying to live, the life of being sold out to God. Not in the rich churches, but in those in some of the poorer areas of the country. These are the ones who are most receptive to God's desires as they have little else to rely upon.
Unlike the church in Smyrna, and those in some parts of the world today, most of us are unlikely to die for our beliefs. Yet God does require each of us to die - to die to our human nature and grow into His.
None of us have fully achieved this yet. Just ask my wife Kathy! As Paul said,
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)
The people of Smyrna had nothing materially. They were persecuted. They were ridiculed. They were likely to die for their faith. Yet, spiritually, in their faithfulness, they had everything! And were given the promise:
Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Revelation 10b)
God, above all, desires us to be fully reliant upon Him
(To be continued next week.)
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FROM THE WORD
TO THE CHURCH IN SMYRNA"“To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death. (Revelation 2:8-11)
PRESSING ON TOWARD THE GOAL
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends! (Philippians 3:17-4:1)
"“Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. (Matthew 10:17-22)
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DAVID'S DOODLINGS
DISCIPLESHIP214.-235. Discipleship is...
... doing the right thing because we want to, not because we are expected to.
... being a servant both to God and man.
... honouring God with body, soul and spirit.
... loving the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind.
... being 100% committed to the Lord's cause.
... putting the Lord first in all things.
... placing the Lord's desires ahead of our own.
... applying the Lord's will to our mind and emotions.
... accepting the Lord's correction graciously.
... being joyful in the Lord - even while being corrected!
... subverting our will to His.
... centred upon giving rather than receiving.
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CRANWELL'S CARTOON
26 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!â€
So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, 27 and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.
28 Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.â€
30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon. (Daniel 3:26-30)
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TUESDAY TEACHINGS
A surprise! Both to you and to me! For I haven't written it yet!Let's both wait and see!
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LAUGHING AT OURSELVES
***Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused****** "Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others." ***
695. MISSING MISSIONARY AND THE SICK CANNIBAL
Did you hear about the cannibal who got sick after eating the missionary? He boiled him when he was a friar!
694. THE CONTEMPLATIVE VICAR
A vicar was talking to one of his parishioners. He said "When you get to my age you spend a lot more time thinking about the hereafter." "What do you say that", enquires the parishioner. The vicar replies "Well, I often find myself going into a room and thinking what did I come in hear after."
693. NEW PASTOR
Our church was looking for a new minister, and the selection committee finally recommended a young man just out of the seminary. Many older church members protested that a more experienced man would have been preferable.
Committee members retaliated with the argument that a younger minister might breathe fresh life into the congregation. At the end of the meeting, I commented to an older man that this marked the beginning of better things for our church.
"Yes," he said with a wry smile. "Moving on to greener pastors."
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FACTS FOR FUN
LAST WEEKS QUESTION: Is it possible for twins to have differentfathers?
ANSWER: Yes. There have been several documented cases of women
giving birth to twins who had different fathers, including cases where the
children were of different races. To do so, the mother had to have
conceived both children in close proximity. There has also been one
recent case where a mother gave birth to unrelated ‘twins’. In that
instance, the mother underwent in vitro fertilisation and had her own child
and the embryo of another couple accidentally implanted in her.
(Possible, but not the way God planned it.)
THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: How do black and white stripes camouflage
zebras?
Answer Next Week.
SOME FUN FACTS567. EVERY EVENTUALITY
It is illegal to drink beer out of a bucket while you're sitting on a curb in St. Louis. (Undesirable anywhere! The next day particularly!)
568. THE PRINTED WORD
Almost half the newspapers in the whole world are published in the United States and Canada! (But are the people better informed?)
569. A FAST BREAK
When glass breaks, the cracks move at faster than 3,000 miles per hour. To photograph the event, a camera must shoot the event at a millionth of a second! (Not sure which is the most amazing – the speed of the crack or the shutter.)
A WORD PUZZLE FOR YOU
Make another word from this word using all the letters.
SETTLERS
Answer at the end of A David Musing
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BIBLE QUESTION - WORKERS AND TOOLS
1) Which of the following prophets speaks of beating plowshares into swords?A - Amos
B - Jeremiah
C - Joel
D - Daniel
Source: www.biblequizzes.com
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IF ONLY I'D THOUGHT OF IT!
"""OTHER'S SAYINGS TO ENLIGHTEN, AMUSE, OR BEMUSE"""CHRISTIAN ONE-LINERS
!!!!!!! Opportunity may knock once, but temptation bangs on your door forever.
!!!!!! Quit griping about your church; if it was perfect, you couldn't belong.
!!!!! If the church wants a better pastor, it only needs to pray for the one it has.
!!!! God Himself does not propose to judge a man until he is dead. So why should you?
!!! Some minds are like concrete, thoroughly mixed up and permanently set.
!! Peace starts with a smile.
! I don't know why some people change churches; what difference does it make which one you stay home from?
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WHY? Some of Life’s Most Puzzling Questions
CAN YOU PROVIDE THE ANSWERS?1. Why is the time of day when the traffic is slowest called the ‘rush hour’?
2. Why isn’t ‘phonetics’ spelled the way it sounds?
3. Why are homes called apartments when they are all stuck together?
4. Why do we drive in parks and park in drives?
5. Why don’t sheep shrink in the rain?
6. If nothing sticks to teflon, how do they make it stick to the pan?
7. Why is it for each and every action, there is an equal and greater criticism?
8. If fire fighters fight fires and crime fighters fight crime, what do freedom fighters fight?
9. If a service station never closes, why do they still have locks on the door?
10. Do vegetarians eat animal biscuits?
11. How come an iron has a setting for ‘permanent press’?
12. If Barbie (the doll of course) is so popular, why do you need to buy her friends?
13. What’s another word for ‘Thesaurus’?
14. If you had everything in the world, where would you put it?
15. After they make styrofoam, what do they ship it in?
16. When you see a microwave, do you wave back?
17. Why is experience something you don’t get until just after you need it?
18. Why is the severity of an itch inversely proportional to your ability to reach it?
19. Why is change inevitable, except from vending machines?
20. Why do bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of cheques?
200 more of life's imponderable questions at .....
BIBLE TRIVIA
GOATSThe goat was likely the first food animal to be domesticated, probably in the vicinity of Jericho. The only animal domesticated earlier was the dog. Mentioned 200 times, the goat was prized for their ability to live on rough land and forage in hard areas.
Adapted from: '1001 Surprising Things You Should Know About The Bible' MacGregor & Prys
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News of the Miraculous Moving of God in China
By Anthony BollbackALL THE WAY BACK TO JERUSALEM
China is no longer just on the receiving end of missions! Fanning out through the western provinces and across Central Asia are messengers burning with a passion to plant vibrant churches that will penetrate the darkness of the region. Graduating classes brim with excitement as well as apprehension as they anticipate the daunting task God has called them to do. But all of these committed messengers to foreign cross-cultural ministry have already been exposed to great danger and risks. As China tightens up on the religious activity of thousands upon thousands of house churches, just studying subjects on spiritual warfare, cross-cultural training, ministry to Muslims and language study is extremely risky. It could lead to possible imprisonment with long sentences in horrible prison settings. It could lead to beatings, various forms of torture and lack of food and other privations. Yet the number of Chinese volunteers continues to grow and the burning passion to go where westerners cannot go is becoming a powerful force for the spread of the Gospel to lands considered to be limited access countries where creative ways of spreading the Gospel must be employed.
Thank God, the burning vision of planting churches all the way back to Jerusalem is not just a dream; it is actually underway as more and more Chinese Christians from the rural areas as well as urban areas catch the vision of reaching lost nations for Christ. Communist China has unwittingly provided a greenhouse that has made possible the present phenomenon of growth and revival in the Church in China. House churches that have existed underground for decades, and survived under the most difficult circumstances, are prepared to enter lands that cannot invent greater methods of torture than the Communists employed on the Chinese nation. These messengers know how to survive under the most difficult conditions and they are prepared to do so.
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DAVID'S DOWNLOAD
A REVELATION OF……. REVELATION 12:11How to 'walk with Jesus.' The verse upon which this ministry is based. The first revelation received by David Tait, introducing him to ministry.
An excellent tool to help better understand Bible history and God's plan for mankind throughout the ages. Kingdom ages, that is! And to get a glimpse of the kingdom yet to come and how we can participate in it.
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WAXING LYRICAL
This poem was 2 years in the writing! The inspiration came, half was written, then I got busy on other things! In the last day or two I have had some spare time, so thought to finish it. (Actually I have had more spare time during the two years but never quite got 'a round tuit'!) I hope the result is worth waiting for!MR BUMBLE
"Mr Bumble, you are a scientific miracle,
My understanding, insufficiently empirical,
For it is obvious you can soar far above,
Which I simply can't, for money or love!"
"I feel a lot better now," said Mr Bumble,
"To see you on your knees, so humble,
Maybe I can fly again without a fumble,
I'll give it a good go - LET'S NOW RUMBLE!
Wings flapping,
Slowly at first,
Then revving,
Give it a burst!
Now into the air again, Mr Bumble flew,
"Yes, I can still fly!" that he now knew,
Up, up, into the blue,
Buzz, buzz, it's true!
There are two lessons here, in life to be learned,
Neither pull another down, nor be the one spurned,
For word's are so powerful you see,
When taken and used by our enemy.
We're to encourage one another to fly high,
Sometimes it's difficult, but let's give it a try.
Yes, twill give a whole new outlook on life,
As well as keeping Mr Bumble, out of strife!
For the 'Fruit of the Spirit' we are to develop,
Yes, love, peace and joy, our life will envelop.
So when we meet the Mr Bumbles of our daily walk,
We can help them fly higher, through our godly talk.
('Artistic Lisence' has been taken in describing the nesting habits of the bumble bee. Unlike honey bees, they are solitary creatures! But that would spoil a good story!)
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A DAVID MUSING
Having shifted last weekend, we are now enjoying life in our new unit. We thank the Lord for his provision.Physically shifting house was easy this time, as I am now used to lifting furniture and heavy bales of clothing on a daily basis.
It is the same in the spiritual. The more time we normally spend with Jesus, the easier it is to relate to Him in times of particular need.
Worth thinking about?
Until next week...
MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOU BLESS GOD.
His servant and yours
David Tait
Today's 'Word Puzzle' Answer: TRESTLES
TODAY'S 'BIBLE QUESTION': Joel (Joel 3:10)
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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 websitewwj.org.nz or by contacting us as follows.
Walking With Jesus Ministries
290 Flaxmere Avenue
Flaxmere
Hastings
New Zealand
Phone: (06) 8799 911 International (+64) 6 8799 911
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