HOW TO ACCESS GOD'S WISDOM

Jn 9:1-2 (NKJV)  Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

The disciples expected Jesus to explain why the man was blind but Jesus did not directly answer the question or give the explanation they expected.

Jn 9:3 (NKJV)  Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

God teaches us many things but if we expect Him to explain everything, we will be disappointed. 

• It is good to want to understand more but God’s thoughts are often very different from ours.

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV)   "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

In spite of this we often expect our pastors to understand and explain everything. How foolish, when we consider that even God does not explain everything on the spot.

Pastors are often tempted to appear that they know everything. I love this story from a well known preacher.

A pastor answers a difficult question. Then the Heavenly Father turns to Jesus and says: “It was very interesting what that pastor just said. I never thought of that. Jesus, did you tell him that?”

In many churches, pastors claim to teach divine truth but in reality the people are being fed with human ideas.

That is very dangerous if a Bible believing pastor has excellent Bible knowledge and gives the impression that he understands everything, so he must always be right.

In Pentecostal churches, many preachers may have good Bible knowledge and also prophetic gifts. The people may be tempted to expect him to always have a word directly from God. 

God often gives a word of revelation but not always. 

• If the prophetic preacher makes a mistake and the people do not know how to seek God for discernment and confirmation, they can be misled. 

• Even a true word of prophecy can be unhelpful if people to not learn how to hear from God themselves and seek wisdom from God to apply his revealed truth.

We need to hear from prophetic people, but we also need to hear from God ourselves.

Jesus understood these dangers very well. 

Many Jewish Rabbis were looked up to as infallible sources of divine truth but Jesus warned against this.

Matthew 23:8-10 (NKJV)  But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 

• Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.

• And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.

This still applies to us now. It make no difference whether the preacher is called “Rabbi” or “Pastor.”

In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit was WITH the Jewish people. He spoke to the people through the written Word and also through prophets, priests and kings, who had more direct access to God.

But when Jesus died, rose from the dead and then poured out His Holy Spirit on all believers, everything changed.

James 1:5 (NIV)  If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

Now every believer has direct access to the wisdom of God to guide him in his life. Wisdom comes through faith in God Himself. 

We should not despise preachers and leaders and there are times when it is good to seek wise counsel from others, not necessarily from pastors. 

But the most important source of wisdom is God Himself.

Isaiah 55:6-7 (NKJV) Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.

• Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

The two key essentials for growing in wisdom are faith in God and a willingness to obey Him.

   

JESUS, MUSLIM PROPHET OR THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD?

God so loved the world...

Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 
This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. 
And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 1 John 5:5-6 (ESV)

When the beloved Apostle John wrote these words, there were false teachers who declared that The Son of God did not really die on the cross.

The “Christ Spirit” came on Jesus when He was baptised in water and the same “Christ Spirit” departed back to heaven before the man Jesus was crucified and poured out his blood. So these false teachers said and they deceived many.

About 500 years later an Arabian religious leader named Mohammed came and taught the Arabs also to honour Jesus (Isa in Arabic). But Mohammed’s Isa is not the Jesus of the Bible.

The Muslim Isa was the son of Mariam and he was a great prophet and miracle healer. But Isa in the Koran was a man and not God. He did not die on the cross. Another man took his place before the execution.

• In Islam, Jesus did not die for your sins. Allah has no son. 

• Allah did not sacrifice his son to pay the penalty for your sins. 

  • Muslims are taught they must try to be good obedient Muslims in the hope that their good deeds might outweigh their sins. If not, they will burn in hell. 

• This terrible uncertainty is a thousand times worse than the Roman Catholic fear of a time of temporary punishment in Purgatory. 

• In Islam there is only one way to sure you are going to Paradise. You must shed your own blood for Islam.

Mohammed taught a Muslim martyr can go directly to paradise by shedding his own blood in holy battle against the infidels. 

• In the Palestinian territories in the Holy Land, Palestinian televison shows sexy girls calling teenage boys to become suicide bombers or terrorists. The reward is the assurance of a very carnal salvation, the instant transportation to Paradise where they can immediately lose their virginity with sexy girls and continue in the same manner for ever and ever.

But the Bible tells us that salvation comes not by pouring out your own blood but by believing in the Holy Son of God who poured out His blood on the cross to pay the penalty of your sins.

• If you believe and trust in the Son of God,

• if you are willing to receive the grace of God to transform your character,

• if you are willing to receive the supernatural eternal life that God gives as a free gift, 

  • you can not only be saved but you can be sure you are saved.

Jesus was born by water and blood. 

• As a natural human baby, he left his mother’s body with the flowing of water (amniotic fluid) and blood. As a Jewish baby boy he shed his own blood when he was circumcised and he was of course washed with water.
• As a young man he was baptised in the River Jordan and the Spirit of God came upon Him to empower Him for His supernatural ministry.

• As He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, His sweat came as water and then blood. 

• When He was whipped by Roman soldiers, the blood poured from His back.

• When they pushed a crown of thorns onto His head, the blood flowed again.

• When He gave up His spirit on the cross and died, a Roman solder thrust a spear into His side and out of the wound flowed water and blood, a sign of extreme torture and trauma.

All this is recorded in the Holy Bible, which was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. 

Many Muslims have read the Bible and the Koran side by side and decided the Bible is not mistaken. 

They have been converted to Jesus Christ by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God who inspired the Jewish and Christian Scriptures but who did not inspire the Koran.

END TIME REVIVAL, FALSE PROPHECY OR BIBLE TRUTH?

We hear so many people prophesying and teaching about The Great End Time Harvest of souls, of the global revival which is coming. 

On the other hand, there are people who question these prophesies and for two reasons.

The first reason is the Bible prophecies that speak of terrible times and spiritual decline before Jesus comes.

Mt 24:12 (ESV)  And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 

 

2 Timothy 3:2-5 (NKJV)  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, traitors, headstrong, haughty, 

• lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 

• having a form of godliness but denying its power. 

• And from such people turn away!

Mt 24:5 (NKJV)  For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.

This last text can have two meanings. The usual interpretation is that the false preacher claims to be Christ.

It can also mean that the preacher affirms that I (Jesus) is the Christ but then deceives many with bad doctrine and manipulative and controlling leadership. 

• There are indeed many false cult leaders who affirm that Jesus is the Christ. 

• There are also many preachers who teach correct doctrine regarding the Trinity and salvation but they behave like cult leaders, making their members into mindless slaves under the control of church leaders.

The second reason for doubting the prophecies of a Global End Time Revival is the actual experience of the negative prophecies coming true before our eyes.

All of the countries which were Christian before the 20th Century are now either Post Christian or under attack from powerful Anti-Christ culture. 

• Lukewarm Christianity has poisoned all Western societies which were once known as Christendom. Church attendance and moral standards are catastrophically low.

However, there is another side to the story.

• The number of fervently believing Christians in formerly unreached,  or non-Christian countries is hundreds of millions and growing rapidly.

• In Africa, the Christians Gospel is accompanied by signs and wonders which challenge witchcraft and Islam.

• In China, the Communist government has not been able to contain a powerful, believing, miracle working underground church with over 150 million members.

• As in China, so in North India, there are new churches planted every day, thousands of souls saved every week and miracles are a way of life.

It appears the Great End Time Revival has already begun but most of the old Christian countries have not yet realised it.

But what about Bible prophecy?

The same text that correctly warns of lukewarm Christianity in the West, also predicts a global End Time harvest reaching, reaching every nation.

Mt 24:12-13 (ESV)  And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

14  And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

People of every NATION, every TRIBE and every TONGUE must be reached in this great End Time harvest.

Rev 5:9 (ESV)  And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

Up to now, there are many millions of people in unreached people groups. 

• There are languages and dialects which have never been used to speak the name of Jesus.

Only a global revival can bridge the gap between present reality and the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

What will this End Time revival look like?

Jn 17:22-23  (NKJV)  And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 

• I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, 

• and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

Eph 5:27 (NKJV)  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.

YOU CAN HEAR GOD IF YOU REALLY WANT TO

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." John 8:31-32 (NASB)  

Jesus was not talking only about reading and studying the Bible. 

• The Jewish Rabbis of the time knew the Jewish scriptures by heart, word for word but many did not recognise Jesus as the Messiah promised in the very scriptures they studied.

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. John 5:39-40 (NKJV)  

Jesus was the Living God walking the earth as a man. 

He was constantly speaking as God to anyone who would listen in faith.

God is still speaking today. 

• As He sent Jesus to be born in Bethlehem, so now He has sent His Holy Spirit to speak to anyone who is willing to listen in faith.

You can study the Bible all your life and miss what God is saying to you. 

You can go to the best churches and hear the best preachers and not hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. 

• The person sitting next to you in the same meeting may hear the voice of God clearly but you can miss it.

There was a woman in Iran who was open to hear from the true and living God. She had lived her life as a Muslim but her heart was hungry for something more. She watched a Christian TV program beamed to her house by satellite. She was so thirsty for freedom that she risked prosecution, as many do, by having a satellite TV receiver dish on her roof.

The preacher quoted the words of Jesus from Revelation.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Rev 3:20 (NKJV)  

She longed to know God. She believed. 

• She went to her front door and opened it. She saw Jesus standing there and invited Him to come in. She offered him some food and He ate with her. 

  • From that moment she was a new person, a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, willing to risk her life in an oppressive Muslim country.

If you read the Bible with an open heart, Jesus will speak to you, probably not with an audible voice and possibly not in a vision but your spirit will come alive to the loving heart of God speaking through His words.

CAN YOU LOSE SALVATION?

Ro 2:7 (NIV)  To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.

DOES THIS MEAN YOU CAN EARN SALVATION?

• No. You cannot begin to do good according to God's ways until you have received the free gift of eternal life.

SO CAN YOU LOSE ETERNAL LIFE?

• God gives you a free will to choose Him or to turn away from Him both at the time of conversion and for the rest of your life.

Rev 3:5 (NKJV)  He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

• When you repent and believe in the Son of God, your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. 

  • If you do not endure to the end, your name will be erased from the book of the living.

Mk 13:13 (NKJV)  And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

• When you are born again, you are a new creation.

2Co 5:17 (NKJV)  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

• How can a perfect creation of God be corrupted and lost?

Satan was the greatest of holy angels in heaven before he chose to turn away from God.

• In the book of Revelation, the Lord Jesus gives a very stern warning to lukewarm Christians.

Rev 3:16 (NKJV)  So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.

Of course you will read commentaries that tell you Jesus is not talking about born again believers but superficially religious people. 

• But consider how precise and accurate Jesus is with words. 

  • You cannot vomit something that is not inside you. 

  • Jesus can only be talking about people who are IN Christ but lose their position through lukewarmness.

Commentaries based on the Reformed tradition will tell you this is incorrect Bible interpretation because you cannot base doctrine on figurative language, such as a parable. 

• But the this rule of Bible interpretation was not made by God.

Consider this passage.

Jn 15:4 (NIV)  Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit UNLESS you remain in me. 

• "I am the vine; you are the branches. 

  • IF a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 

• IF anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 

• IF you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

Again the conservative evangelical commentaries say the person who was cut off and burned was never in Christ in the first place. 

• However, this interpretation is quite inconsistent and illogical.

Jn 15:5 (NIV)  "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

The same conservative commentaries will tell you the branch is the believer who is IN CHRIST because he is born again. 

• If this is so, the branch which is cut off and burned can only be a born again believer who does not continue in faith and obedience. 

• Any other interpretation is totally illogical makes nonsense of the precise teaching of Jesus.

• Salvation is an ongoing blessing but also an ongoing responsibility.

What about Paul?

Romans 11:22 (NASB)  Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. 

Jesus and Paul agree.

Jn 8:31-32 (NASB)  So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."    

DOING GREAT THINGS HUMBLY

When you step out in faith and act boldly with and for Jesus, you get bigger, not smaller. It is no longer you alone who is bigger but you and Jesus together who rise to the occasion.

Jesus said, without me you can do nothing but with God all things are possible.. 

• Notice not “All things are possible for God” which means God can do anything.. but “All things are possible with God."

  • That means you with God and God with you. God is looking for partners and co-workers.

This message was inspired by the following note pasted by Pastor Jeff Mills on Facebook.

"Wow! We never stop learning do we? I was reading a book today and the author said that many Christians take John the Baptist's prayer as a model, "He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3:30. 

He goes on to say that this is actually not a legal prayer for us. John was closing out a season as the greatest OT prophet. He was passing the baton on to Jesus who would initiate the existence of the Kingdom of God on earth. 

The focus was shifting from John and the Law, to Jesus and the Kingdom. John had to decrease. Jesus had to increase. 

But when Jesus left the earth He didn't say we were to decrease. 

Instead He passed the same baton on to us with His name, power, and authority and commissioned us to continue in what He started. "As the Father has sent me, I also send you" John 20:21. What is needed is not less of us and more of Him. What is needed is all of us covered and filled by all of Him. "      

True humility does not require you to hide yourself or to castrate your unique God given personality.

You and I are called to be ambassadors for Christ, to represent Jesus and His Kingdom on Earth.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. 2Co 5:20 (NKJV) 

An Ambassador must be humble, so that he does not promote his own interests or opinions but rather the interests of his country. 

• However, an Ambassador must exercise high authority in order to represent his President or King.

Is Paul here only speaking of himself as an Apostle and of his companions who are senior pastors and evangelists? He does not say so.

Just before He returned to His Father in Heaven, Jesus authorised all believers to exercise the full authority of heaven on earth.

Mk 16:17 (NIV)  And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."

In obeying this command, there are some extremes we must avoid.

I must not promote my own miracle ministry in a way that draws honour to myself.

• I must act boldly in miracle faith and not hide my light but at the same time giving all the glory to Jesus and also honouring other believers and their ministries.

I must also follow the example of Randy Clark, an American pastor. 

God started to use him powerfully through the word of knowledge and miraculous healings. 

• However, when some of his church members started to be used in even more dramatic ways, he felt intimidated. 
• Then his wife correctly pointed out it was better for him not to be the number one star all the time. 
• He humbly accepted his wife’s counsel and publicly confessed his error and testified how his wife had corrected him.

God wants to give us great gifts so we can honour Him, bless others and also raise up others to do even greater things through the grace of God.

• When you help God to raise up others, you must also not expect God will give them exactly the same kind of gift and ministry that He has given you. 

  • Many leaders go wrong in that they try to teach their disciples to be like themselves.

Ro 12:10 (NKJV)  Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honour giving preference to one another.

What is Full Surrender to God?

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; 

and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Gal 2:20 (NKJV)  

What does it mean to be “Dead to self”?

• Some have suggested a believer should be like a glove and the Spirit of God should be the hand wearing the glove. 

  • This sounds very spiritual but is it true?

• The Bible teaches I must offer my whole life to the service of God and surrender my will to Jesus.

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 1Co 6:19 (NKJV)  

A follower of Jesus does not belong to himself any longer but is like a slave who has been purchased by a new owner, Jesus Christ.

But how does this work in practice? 

• The parable of the glove operated by the hand of God is seriously misleading because it teaches you to see yourself as passive and unimportant. 

• Only God is important and believers may as well be robots, the more passive the better. 

  • People should not see you but Jesus in you.

It is wonderful to see Jesus in a person and it is wonderful to be totally available for God to lead you and manifest Himself in you and through you. 

The only trouble is that this passive concept of full surrender does not match my reading of real life Bible characters who are presented as role models for believers.

• Paul appears in his letters and in the book of Acts as a very striking personality, quite different from Peter and John. 

• When I read the books of the Bible, I am impressed by the unity of the message of truth and the Divine inspiration. 

  • However, I also perceive the strong imprint of the unique human personality of each writer.

• When Moses writes THE WORD OF GOD, he remains Moses. 

  • When David, Luke, John and Paul write THE WORD OF GOD they also express their strong and colourful personalities just as much as any poet in human literature.

The Lord Jesus Christ lived on earth as God in the flesh but that does not mean He was God in a human body. 

He was God in a human BEING. Jesus lived as a man with a human mind and heart, a human spirit and soul.

• In Jesus of Nazareth we do not see a human body acting as a glove operated by God but a complete human personality in perfect harmony with God:

  • in perfect harmony with His own identity as God,

  • in perfect harmony with the will of His Heavenly Father 

  • and in perfect harmony with the Holy Spirit who guided and empowered His ministry.

• As a man, Jesus struggled with temptation. There was potentially conflict between His human will and the will of the Father.

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 

• And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." 

• Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.' " Mt 4:8-10 (NKJV)  

“The devil took Him ....” Think about it!!

If Jesus was tested, so will you be.  

• As Christians we seek to follow Jesus, to ACTIVELY seek to know and fulfil the purpose of God. 

• Jesus the man spent whole nights in prayer before making major decisions.

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Lk 5:16 (NIV)  

 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. 

When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Lk 6:12-13 (NIV)        

His human life was one of active partnership with the Father. 

So it must be with you and me who follow Him.

GOD MADE YOU UNIQUE..DISCOVER YOUR DESTINY

1Co 4:7 (NKJV)  For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

THIS TEXT TEACHES US NOT TO BE PROUD. 

You and I must not claim the credit for what God has called us to do because with the calling, 

• God also gives the inspiration, the wisdom, the faith, the love, the knowledge, the strength and the skill to fulfil HIS purpose in His way.

However, there are other lessons hidden in this text.

Firstly, we do differ from one another. Some of the differences are by God’s design.

• God did not call Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frederick Handel to be preachers, but to write some of the most glorious music ever heard on this earth.

• God did not call Billy Graham or Reinhard Bonnke to teach theology in a Bible college, but to preach to great crowds to bring millions of lost men and women into the Kingdom of Heaven.

If God has gifted you to transform the lives of children, He may not have given you the gift of preaching to crowds of adults. 

One of the saddest things in churches is the low value we put on children and children’s ministry.

• Samuel was a child when he heard the voice of God and became a prophet.

• Mary was a young teenager when she conceived the Son of God.

• In Mozambique, Heidi Baker adopts abandoned children and raises them up to preach the Good News of Jesus to hostile Muslims and witchcraft workers. 

  • Little boys and girls open blind eyes and deaf ears and whole villages come to faith in Jesus Christ.

Children’s ministry can be a place of training for preachers to adults. However, we should not only see children in this way.

• I often hear people speak of children as “the church of tomorrow.” I hate this saying. 

  • Although it is partly true, it poisons the church with unbelief concerning the potential of children to be heroes of faith right now.

• In churches where these thoughts are accepted, the adults are often spiritual underachievers as well. God save our children from becoming mediocre unbelieving believers!

Another reason for differences between believers is simply that only some believers have learned the secret of receiving in order to give.

“For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive?”

Lk 7:47 (NKJV)  Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little."

• The first thing we all need to receive is forgiveness for our sins. 

  • If we have a revelation of the wonderful goodness of God, we will see more and more how much we need His forgiveness and how great is His mercy and grace.

Some of us strive to be good but we are really trying to cover our weaknesses and faults.

• Paul wrote:

2Co 12:9 (NLT)  Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

I love to hear preachers talk about their weaknesses and faults and how God has helped them overcome them. Unfortunately, few preaches dare to be so transparent.

There are other believers who depend on their knowledge and abilities instead of opening themselves to the wisdom and direction of God. 

• If you empty yourself and receive revelation, wisdom and direction from God, He will also use your knowledge and talents but your own ability must never be your starting point or the thing you rely on.

The Apostle Paul and John Wesley were both brilliant scholars but they laid down their lives to learn from the Holy Spirit. 

• God redirected their thinking and used their minds for His Kingdom.

1Co 1:21 (NKJV)  For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

• We must also not go to the other extreme by despising intellect. 

  • We would not have bibles and study resources without highly educated believers. 

  • We also need believing doctors, teachers, writers and politicians.

Why You Are Not Like Other People

For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? 1Co 4:7 (NKJV)  

This text teaches us not to be proud.

You and I must not claim the credit for what God has called us to do because with the calling, 

• God also gives the inspiration, the wisdom, the faith, the love, the knowledge, the strength and the skill to fulfil His purpose in His way.

However, there are other lessons hidden in this text.

Firstly, we do differ from one another. Some of the differences are by God’s design.

• God did not call Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frederick Handel to be preachers but to write some of the most glorious music ever heard on this earth.

• God did not call Billy Graham or Reinhard Bonnke to teach theology in a Bible college but to preach to great crowds to bring millions of lost men and women into the Kingdom of Heaven.

If God has gifted you to transform the lives of children, He may not have given you the gift of preaching to crowds of adults. 

One of the saddest things in churches is the low value we put on children and children’s ministry.

• Samuel was a child when he heard the voice of God and became a prophet.

• Mary was a young teenager when she conceived the Son of God.

• In Mozambique, Heidi Baker adopts abandoned children and raises them up to preach the Good News of Jesus to hostile Muslims and witchcraft workers. 

  • Little boys and girls open blind eyes and deaf ears and whole villages come to faith in Jesus Christ.

Children’s ministry can be a place of training for preachers to adults we should not only see children in this way.

• I often hear people speak of children as “the church of tomorrow.” I hate this saying. 

  • Although it is partly true, it poisons the church with unbelief concerning the potential of children to be heroes of faith right now.

• In churches where these thoughts are accepted, the adults are often spiritual underachievers as well. God save our children from becoming mediocre unbelieving believers!

Another reason for differences between believers is simply that only some believers have learned the secret of receiving in order to give.

“For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive?”

Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." Lk 7:47 (NKJV)  

• The first thing we all need to receive is forgiveness for our sins. 

  • If we have a revelation of the wonderful goodness of God, we will see more and more how much we need His forgiveness and how great is His mercy and grace.

Some of us strive to be good but we are really trying to cover our weaknesses and faults.

• Paul wrote:

Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 2Co 12:9 (NLT)  

I love to hear preachers talk about their weaknesses and faults and how God has helped them overcome them. Unfortunately, few preaches dare to be so transparent.

There are other believers who depend on their knowledge and abilities instead of opening themselves to the wisdom and direction of God. 

• If you empty yourself and receive revelation, wisdom and direction from God, He will also use your knowledge and talents but your own ability must never be your starting point or the thing you rely on.

The Apostle Paul and John Wesley were both brilliant scholars but they laid down their lives to learn from the Holy Spirit. 

• God redirected their thinking and used their minds for His Kingdom.

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 1Co 1:21 (NKJV) 

• We must also not go to the other extreme by despising intellect. 

  • We would not have bibles and study resources without highly educated believers. 

  • We also need believing doctors, teachers, writers and politicians.

LEADERSHIP THAT SETS YOU FREE

Jn 9:5-6 (NKJV)  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.        

Jesus knew the Rabbis had made a rule against anointing a blind person’s eye with mud made with saliva on the Sabbath day.

• Jesus deliberately defied religious leaders who enforced a man made rule in the name of God. 

The man was healed but that only provoked more persecution. 

• The Pharisees were more interested in their own authority than in what God might be actually doing. 

• They were confident in what they knew of religion but not hungry to learn new things from God.

There are two kinds of leadership. The Pharisees were legalistic rulers.

Mt 23:4 (NKJV) ... they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

• They compiled a system of strict rules and used them to control the lives of everyone who was not in the elite leadership group. 

• Their knowledge of the system gave them power and position. 

The ordinary people could not possibly understand the detailed system which required serious study to master. 

The rulers created their own light and then kept the ordinary people in the dark.

We see this today in some churches. 

• In traditional churches the clergy must have a degree in academic theology which is too complicated for ordinary believers to understand without much deep study. 

The priests or ministers tell the people they have the right to organise and control the church according to their theology. 

• Only the ordained preacher can administer baptism or communion. 

• Only the ordained preacher can explain the Bible because you are supposed to know theology to be able to understand the Scriptures. 

All of this is quite contrary to the New Testament.

Lk 10:21 (NKJV)  In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. 

 When the Apostle Paul planted a church of new believers in Corinth, the converts were baptised. 

• Who baptised them?

Paul wrote to the church in Corinth.

1Co 1:14 (NKJV)  I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius.

The Corinthian church at that time was made up of new believers and the Apostle Paul was the only ordained senior leader. 

• Other new converts were obviously baptised by other recently converted believers. Wow!

When the first church was established in Jerusalem, there were thousands of new believers but only twelve ordained preachers in the beginning. 

• In the early chapters of Acts, the only other ordained preachers were the seven Deacons, so there were 19 ordained preachers ministering to a church of many thousands which was growing daily.

Ac 2:46 (NKJV)  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.

The Holy Communion was celebrated in informal gatherings in private homes. 

• There were not enough ordained preachers to be able to be present at all these events. Clearly they did not need to be present.

• It is time for ordinary believers like you and me to go back to the Word of God and check up on the things we have been taught!

The second kind of leadership is based on the leading of the Holy Spirit in the lives of all believers. 

Senior leaders are still important but their role is to encourage, liberate, train and empower other believers to be like Jesus, to release the power and love of God to heal lives.
 
I recently took some new believers to our church. My senior pastor encouraged me to mentor them but did not tell me how. He operates on the principle of mutual respect, trust and empowerment. Then I told him the new believers wanted to be baptised. He suggested maybe I could baptise them, although I am not an official leader or office holder in the church.

• It is time for ordinary believers like you and me to go back to the Word of God and check up on the things we have been taught!

NO SECOND CLASS BELIEVERS

Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ...2Pe 1:1 (NASB)  

Peter was the Apostle who walked on water, the first Evangelist of the early church, the preacher who healed the sick and raised the dead. 

• This Peter writes to so called ordinary believers and tells us we have the same kind of faith as he does. 

  • The value and quality of your faith in God has nothing to do with the rank or position you hold in the church.

• Of course we want our pastors to be leaders in faith and excellent in every way, people to look up to. 

  • However, there are always equally outstanding believers who do not govern a church or preach with a microphone. 

  The excellence of the glory of God is not exclusively reserved for apostles, pastors and evangelists in official positions. 

  • In fact God often uses unexpected people to teach us this lesson.

Heidi Baker and her husband Roland spent years in missionary work with limited success. 

Then they returned to America where an anointed preacher prayed for Heidi.   

• She lay on the floor under the power of God for a week. 

When she returned to Mozambique, she raised the dead and planted hundreds of churches. 

• She also received the healing gift of opening deaf ears with 100% success. 

• Better than that, God called and gifted her to adopt hundreds of abandoned children. 

• Little boys were saved from being bandits or child soldiers and little girls were saved from sexual slavery. 

These children were loved and restored but more than that, they were raised up to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ with the same miracle power that Heidi herself had.

One of these little girls went with Heidi to a hostile Muslim village and preached to them. 

• The Muslims did not want Christian preaching and hurled stones at the little evangelist. 

As she skilfully dodged the stones, she spoke declared deaf ears to be opened. 

• A deaf stone thrower suddenly shouted out, “I can hear!” and the stones stopped coming. 

  • The villagers eagerly listened as the little girl ministered more miracles of healing and preached the love of Jesus. 

    The village turned from witchcraft and Islam to Jesus.

When Peter preached the first sermon of the Church Age, he taught that the overwhelming power of the Grace of God was not just for a few preachers but for all believers of all ages, both male and female.

 ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.

• In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike— and they will prophesy. Acts 2:17-18 (NLT) 

Religious tradition has robbed us of our heritage. 

• We look up to gifted healing evangelists and anointed pastors and we forget that we are all called to manifest the supernatural love and power of the Holy Spirit.

And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 

• they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them;  they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." Mk 16:17-18  (NKJV)  

A friend of mine was converted from Islam to believe in Jesus but he was misled by Mormons and became a member of the “Latter Day Saints” cult. 

When God led him out of this deception, he wasted no time but warned all the Mormons he knew of their error. 

• Many Mormons left their church. 

• Then he spoke with equal boldness to Muslims and some were converted to faith in Jesus Christ.

This man is not an ordained preacher but God uses him to work amazing miracles. 

Once an Arab Muslim gave him a meal. 

• A week later the man was astonished to see my friend still alive. “I put enough poison in your food to kill a camel,” he confessed.

The would be assassin also became a follower of Jesus Christ.

AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER?

Ge 4:9 (NKJV)  Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?"

Nine years ago a 13 year old boy was abducted from a bus stop in Australia. 

This week six witnesses have testified before a magistrate. 

• They have evidence which will probably lead to a criminal conviction for kidnapping and murder but they did nothing to help the boy escape at the time. 

• They only reported to the police weeks or months later, long after the boy had been killed.

• One man “told the Brisbane Magistrates Court that he saw a fight between a child and a man in the back of a car as he drove towards Caloundra.”

• A woman “said a man was punching down into the seat and a shoe kicked up defensively at the man. She wrote down the car's number plate but lost the piece of paper.”

• A man was waiting outside a shop when the 13 year old victim pleaded for help and told him his name, Daniel Morcombe. 

  • The kidnapper then caught the boy, spoke harshly to him and gave the witness a fierce look. The witness said he felt intimidated and did nothing. 

    • Months later he saw a missing person report and went to the police, months too late.

I am ashamed of my country, Australia, but looking around the world, if wonder if other countries are better.

The Bible speaks of a future time when the love of many will grow cold, when people will be self centred and hard hearted. This describes our time so well.

It seems for many people, life has become a spectator sport. 

• We read gossip magazines, watch TV for hours or browse the internet looking for entertainment.  

  Elite sports attracts bigger crowds and more money while more and more people in rich countries grow fat while they just watch.

• We feel uneasy about the rise of violence around us. TV programs about violence and killing are immensely popular, both fiction and true stories. 

• We watch and we feel stressed but we are spectators. 

• We have accepted the role of passive spectators of evil, so when we are actually confronted with the real thing, we behave like spectators.

Jesus has the answer. He taught about the Good Samaritan who rescued a man who had been beaten and robbed on a public road.

I am sad about the moral sickness of my country but I also wonder about many Christians. How much better are we who claim to believe in Jesus?

• I know Christians who visit brothels and help prostitutes escape from slavery. 

• Our church frequently goes out on the streets of the night club district to reach out to lost and dysfunctional people. I have tried to help homeless people myself.

However in the past I have sometimes felt frustrated in churches where the main focus of attention was church meetings for church members. 

• So many Christians are actually encouraged to be spectators in meetings where the musicians and preachers perform.

• I was once a willing church worker, going to meetings, doing little jobs and keeping the system going. 

• I went to prayer meetings which were so boring and predictable, praying for church activities. 

  • Then I realised I was too busy being a good church member and I was part of the problem.

There are people in need of rescuing all around us. 

• In my city between 15% and 20% of all psychiatric patients kill themselves less than 24 hours after being discharged from full time medical care.

What are we doing? What are you doing? What does God want you to do NOW?

2Co 6:2 (NLT)  For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.

• If you have never committed your life to Jesus, the Son of God, today is your opportunity to be reconciled to God and to escape His judgement. 

  • But what if you are safe in your faith in Jesus and you are confident of your eternal future in heaven?

Who needs you today? 

• Who needs your words or deeds of love TODAY? 

• What can you do NOW?

GOD STILL HEALS. HE WANTS TO HEAL YOU.

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John tell how the Son of God lived on this earth for 33 years. 

• In his last three years on earth, Jesus preached and taught the people of Israel. 

  • One of the most prominent features of His teaching was the way He consistently performed miraculous healings.

Acts 10:38 (NLT)  And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

• This is how the Apostle Peter summarised the healing ministry of Jesus. 

  • He makes no distinction between exorcisms and healing physical sickness. 

    • Jesus saw demon possession, deafness, blindness and physical sickness as manifestations of evil.

When John the Baptist was in prison, he was tempted to despair of his faith. He sent his disciples to Jesus, seeking reassurance.

Matthew 11:4-5 (ESV)  And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 

• the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

Clearly Jesus also saw Healing as a central feature of His ministry.

• When Jesus appointed His Apostles, the first thing He did was to give them authority to heal.

Matthew 10:1 (ESV)  And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.

If we look at church history and examine the practices of many churches in the Western World, we see only some churches emphasise healings and miracles.

• Many other churches consider this unbalanced and yet they read the same Bible that shows Jesus was a healing evangelist. 

• For Jesus and the early church, healing the sick was an essential part of the Good News of the Kingdom of God.

Where did the Western church go wrong? 

Why have we strayed from the ways of Jesus so clearly presented in the New Testament?

After the fall of the Roman Empire in the Europe, most people were poor and illiterate. 

• Faith the Word of God was replaced with faith in religious traditions including prayers to saints and bathing with holy water. Healing and miracles became associated with very unbiblical practices.

When Luther and Calvin restored the Bible as the only source of spiritual authority, they rejected the papacy. They also condemned faith in miracles obtained by prayers to saints or touching sacred objects. This was idolatry.

• However they made the mistake of rejecting all healing miracles. 

  Calvin taught that the miraculous ministry of Jesus and the Apostles were not a model to imitate.  

  • He taught they did miracles to prove that Jesus was the Son of God and to confirm the truth of the Gospel of salvation. 

    Once the church and the gospel were established, they considered miracles were no longer necessary but were counterfeit miracles associated with Roman Catholic idolatry. 

Once the miraculous element was banished from much of Western Christianity, faith in scientific materialism was blended with biblical belief. 

• Faith in human reason began to supplement and then replace faith in the Word of God.

This is why many Christians in Britain, Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand find it difficult to receive divine healing or to exercise faith for miracles. 

Our whole culture has been corrupted by systematic unbelief in God’s supernatural power.

• Faith is a personal matter but it is also corporate. Faith is contagious but unbelief is also contagious. 

Conservative Protestant tradition and academic theology  have made unbelief respectable in in Europe and North America.

• The result has been a catastrophic decline of faith amongst professing Christians and the abandonment of Christianity by the majority of Europeans.

But God has not changed and the Bible has not changed.

God loves you. 

He knows you are broken and wounded in many ways. We all are. 

• We all emotional issues that cause us pain and prevent us from being all we could be. 

• We all get sick from time to time and many of us have bodily functions that don’t operate as they should.

God wants to heal you, to change you life, to set you free of the painful limitations that stop you fulfilling your potential.