2020 – YEAR FOR DISCIPLE MAKING MOVEMENTS

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Joseph Mattera joins the list of Christian leaders in the USA that recognise that God is bringing about radical change in His church. It is imperative that believers have truly died to self and live life directed by the Holy Spirit.

He says in an article in Charisma News entitled Five Ways God is Reforming His Church in 2020. “I believe 2020 is the year when more and more leaders will attempt to build “disciple making movements”. The corporate business model of doing church—which took off in the 1980s—has proven that, irrespective of the crowds they garner, they usually fail at disciple making. Jesus proved that focusing on disciple making was the key to building the largest and most effective movement the world has ever seen.

This will be the year when disciple making will gain the traction needed to eventually challenge the assumptions of the “CEO convert driven” model of church.

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Luke called his historical narrative “the book of Acts” (or the book of Action), not “the book of theology or philosophy.” The Scriptures were written to tell the story of our missionary Father/God, who loved the world and gave up His only Son to save every tribe, nation and people. Those who are truly hearing the heart of God will read the Bible with a missional lens and desire to demonstrate the power of God to a lost and dying world!

In the context of the church, they will live to empower disciples for the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:12) and in the context of the world, they will desire to manifest His power in a way that proves Jesus rose from the dead. Consequently, many new evangelists will begin to arise (as we saw in the “voice of healing” movement in the 1950’s) and some will eventually fill stadiums, proclaiming the gospel and praying for the sick. (In the past decade, we have only seen a trickle of what is to come!)”

May the reformation of the church that started in the 16th century continue until the Lord Himself comes back for His bride. May all who read this post have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to His Body!

THE COMING END TIMES AWAKENING

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I am sure Ron Cantor is correct in his latest book that in the “end times” the church will operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit much as they did in the early church as described in the Book of Acts.

In the Book of Acts we see:
• The dead raised (Acts 20)
• The lame walk (Acts 3)
• Powerful, convicting preaching of the Gospel (Acts 2)
• Speaking in tongues (Acts 2, 10, 19)
• Holy Spirit Outpouring (Acts 2, 4, 10)
• Judgements against sin (Acts 5, 8, 12)
• Casting out demons (Acts 16)
• Miraculous escapes from jail (Acts 12, 16)
• Martyrdom (Acts 7, 12)
• Congregations planted southern Europe, Asia, Middle East (Acts 13-19)
• A sizeable remnant of Jewish believers who lived as Jews (Acts 21:20)
• Philip was transported from one place to the other (Acts 8)

Because of reports like those in my recent post, Church in the Last Days – Iran’s Fast Growing Church posted October 26th, 2019, we are already seeing a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit promised by Jesus in the last days before His return.

Even in the midst of great darkness and tribulation this revival will overshadow the book of Acts. It has started in many places like China, Africa, Middle East , even India. While we are waiting for a move of God in many parts of the world, a great outpouring is already taking place in these countries where they are already experiencing intense persecution.

Sadly, Scripture tells us that in the last days we will also see a great falling away from the faith. In the west, we are already seeing entire church denominations compromising with the world, accepting gay marriage and homosexual pastors/leaders. In a recent post, I reported on Pope Francis declaring that Christians are not to try and convert Muslims or people of other faiths as “we are all children of the same God”.

Pope Francis and Sheik Ahmad el-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar, a leading authority for many Sunni Muslims signed a document on “human fraternity” and improving Christian-Muslim relations in February, 2019. The document insists on the basic human right to freedom of religion, appealing to both Christians and Muslims not only to tolerate the religious faith of the other, but to recognise the other’s faith as something “willed by God in his wisdom.”

This Pope is consigning millions to the Lake of Fire. There is NO way back into a right relationship with God other than by repentance, acknowledging the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the Cross and accepting His Lordship over us and all creation.

BY THE POWER OF GOD, JEWS COMING TO JESUS

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 Rabbi Eric Tokajer says the Good News of Jesus is beginning to spread throughout Israel, and it’s important for Christians to continue to support that effort.

The founder of Brit Ahm Messianic Synagogue in Pensacola, Florida, and the publisher of The Messianic Times, Tokajer, who conducts tours in the Holy Land, says the growth of Messianic ministries in Israel proves God’s hand indeed is upon that land

“Years ago, when I became a Jewish believer, there were only a handful of Jewish believers in Israel,” Tokajer told Dr. Steve Greene on a recent episode of Greenelines on the Charisma Podcast Network. “Now there are thousands, probably somewhere around 10,000 that are Jewish believers born in Israel. There are others that came from outside that live there, but when I became a believer, there were almost none.

“Now, there are hundreds of groups that meet together around the land that are sharing the Good News, which is part of end-times prophecy being fulfilled as God is re-grafting the natural branches into the olive tree.

“A lot of the Christian world never hears those stories. But if they go to Israel, they will actually see what’s happening where the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear and people are preached to in prison.

The Jewish people are discovering the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of Yeshua. And by the power of God the Good News will continue to spread in Israel.”

CHURCHES MAKE DISCIPLES

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The Importance of a Disciple-Making Movement (DMM) – Communities of Disciples.

Paul was able to win the city not by joining a political party, but by making disciples and releasing these disciples to turn the world upside down.

“Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” Acts 2:44-47

There was a healthy fear of the Lord in the community after the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira.

Paul did not attempt to plant mere churches, but founded communities of disciples—which formed a kingdom ekklesia which can turn a city upside down!

They were not event-driven, but process-driven.

In his epistle, Paul wrote to explain to the Ephesian church (about four years after Acts 19) how they transformed Asia Minor and wrote in chapter 4 that the ekklesia is equipped by the five fold ministry to become a mature man—as the expression of the fullness of Christ and corporate son—who will manifest the government of God increasingly on the earth.

In Ephesians 4:12 we see both an inward and outward focus: one is missional and the other is focused on building the body of Christ.

The missional purpose of the apostles was to equip the saints to minister in every aspect of culture, according to Genesis 1:28, as His ekklesia, so the earth would be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

The focus to edify the church is seen in Ephesians 4:12-16 when it speaks about the church growing into the fullness of the stature of Jesus. This passage shows what the ultimate goal of discipleship is: to be like Jesus as a corporate community (a nation within nations that disciples every people group and subculture).

Consequently, to the extent the kingdom ekklesia looks and acts like Jesus, it will have governmental authority and influence because the government is on His shoulders and because it was He who defeated the powers of darkness!

Isaiah 9:6-7 says: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.”

Ephesians 4:11-13 says: “He gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, and for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, into a complete man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”

As His corporate body, He called us to manifest His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven according to Luke 11:2. Moreover, Jesus made it possible for our Heavenly Father to send the third person of the Trinity to be our Counsellor, Teacher and Comforter and therefore enable us to do the job He has called us to do. The Holy Spirit enables us to overcome the powers of darkness and manifest the fruit of the Spirit and operate in the gifts of the Spirit.

To those who have an ear to hear and a heart to understand, let me leave you with this quote from Rene Bates book God’s Glory: And the Exhortation: “What we begin to see now is the deathwatch of the gloomy, deceptive, organised religious system. It gave birth to nothing but a dearth of life, religious institutes (mistakenly called churches), and canons of human pride, turning many toward insincere piety. May the Lord Jesus Christ forever be praised within your hearts as He delivers us from the people-pleasing business.”

DOES GOD SPEAK TO US AUDIBLY TODAY?

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J.D. Greear, the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention, said God and the Holy Spirit can still audibly speak to believers today and are not limited to speaking through Scripture. His remarks came during a video interview with The Gospel Coalition.

Greear seems to moderate his comments later in the video, noting “we shouldn’t expect that we’re going to hear from God the way the Apostles did” and cautioning against the dangers of proclaiming “God just told me.” Yet though he affirms the primacy of the Bible, he acknowledges the Bible is ambiguous about the ways God can speak to us and says he would never place God in a box about what He could do today.

This is encouraging to know the leader of a major church denomination acknowledges the role of the Holy Spirit in the church today as it was in the early Book of Acts church.

CHURCHES THAT WILL TRANSFORM COMMUNITIES – Part 2

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In order for kingdom culture to rule and reign on the earth, we must repent as a church for a mindset that doesn’t foster kingdom culture. We are citizens of heaven on earth, but we must act like it. At Pentecost, we were reminded that Jesus made it possible for our Heavenly Father to send the Holy Spirit to indwell all born again believers to empower them to do the things He is calling us to do.

We are living so far beneath our potential. As the church, if we don’t begin to live in the knowledge of His empowerment and guidance, then culture will not change around us. We have been given the Holy Spirit so God Himself can effect the changes He wants to make manifest in the earth, but we have to truly believe and act on it.

Repent simply means to change your mind. The church is not walking in the authority of God and His Word. We as a church are constantly submitting to the things of the world and the strongholds of the enemy that come from the second heavens, yet He has already raised us up and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6).

We need to step out into the world and use the gifts of the Spirit as Paul instructed. The church needs to work in John 17 unity of purpose to build His Kingdom on earth.

My book Living Eternal Now – Empowered by the Holy Spirit is a useful resource and is available as an ebook on Amazon.

“For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.” Romans 12:4

LAST REFORMATION – TORBEN IN AUSTRALIA

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Torben in Australia in November, baptising them in the name of the FATHER, THE SON and the HOLY SPIRIT.

I believe we are seeing an emergence of the church as it was in the Book of Acts, with the POWER Jesus said, would be evident when the Holy Spirit came UPON the disciples at Pentecost.

The disciples had already received the Holy Spirit when Jesus breathed on them as recorded in John 20;22. The word Jesus used here for breathed is the same word God used when he breathed life INTO Adam. This is when the disciples were born again of the Holy Spirit but after this event Jesus tells them to do nothing until the Holy Spirit comes UPON them at Pentecost in POWER. We all know that when the Holy Spirit came UPON them in power what happened 3,000 were added to the church day one. There are two events here, and God wants you to experience both: 1. Are you born again? and 2. Have you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit?

BUILD UP TREASURE IN HEAVEN – IT LASTS FOREVER

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My ebook Living Eternal Now – Empowered by the Holy Spirit will be available on Amazon as a FREE download from June 1st to 5th, 2016.

If you don’t believe God exists, the Bible is God’s Word, that God loves you and that He has provided a way for you to restore the lost relationship with Him, then you need to read my ebook “Living Eternal Now – Empowered by the Holy Spirit”.

You need to be born again by the Holy Spirit. You then know God is real and you have eternal life. The world becomes a different place, you notice the beauty of God’s creation in a new way, your priorities change. His priorities become your priority. The Holy Spirit living within your spirit (your body becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit) produces the fruit of the spirit in your life: love, joy, peace, faithfulness, goodness, gentleness, kindness, patience and self control. As the Holy Spirit enables, many of the nine gifts of the spirit will become evident in your life. Each one of these gifts are major power gifts, and they are all direct, supernatural, miraculous manifestations direct from the Holy Spirit: 1. Word of Knowledge, 2. Word of Wisdom, 3. Gift of Prophecy, 4. Gift of Faith, 5. Gift of Healing, 6. Working of Miracles, 7. Discerning of Spirits, 8. Speaking in Tongues, 9. Interpretation of Tongues.

Your life is transformed and God will use you to build His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. You will truly enter into the joy of the Lord knowing you are a child of God, loved by your heavenly Father.