Here's a posting I promised -- The FiveFold Ministry (Part III)

Leadership gifting #3: Evangelist

As we progress in this article, we are starting to move towards some of the ministries that some Christians may not be well-informed of. These leadership positions are nothing new (after all, they come from your Holy Bible), but some Christians who don't know any better would assume that there are only Teachers and Pastors around. A quick search in Christian magazines will reveal the contrary in terms of worldwide Christianity.

So let's come to the Evangelist.

Evangelist = root word "Euangelion", which is Greek for "gospel"
In the same way that "Teacher" = "the teaching person", "Evangelist" thus = "the gospel person".

I think one of the best ways to describe an Evangelist can be seen in the life of Philip (Acts 21:8). Some of the episodes from his early ministry will demonstrate what kind of person an Evangelist is supposed to be:

1. Well-respected, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom (Acts 6:3-5)
2. Able to convey effectively the message about Jesus (Acts 8:6)
3. Uses great signs and wonders effectively to turn people to Jesus (Acts 8:13); some of these signs including casting out of evil spirits and healings (Acts 8:6-7)
4. Preaches baptism as part of repentance from sin and turning to Christ (Acts 8:12-13, cf Acts 2:38, somewhat supported by Mark 16:16)
5. Has extraordinary spiritual experiences--in Philip's case, seeing an angel and being "teleported" by the Spirit across different places (Acts 8:26, 39-40)
6. As with any other elder, able to hear clearly the voice of God (Acts 8:29)
7. Has an adequate knowledge of the Scriptures (Acts 8: 30-33)

Now there are interesting things which can be said about Philip which are worth noting:
1. There is a common notion that Evangelists must be itinerant (i.e. moving from place to place or among different churches). Philip's initial ministry seems to connote this kind of idea, but later at the end of ch 8, you will notice that he settles in Caesaerea. The next time you see him is in Acts 21:8, where he is officially entitled as an Evangelist, but hey, still in Caesearea, and this time with 3 daughters. What we can get from this is that Philip probably travelled from place to place ministering until he got married in Caesearea and decided to settle down there. That didn't stop him from being an Evangelist though--for the length of time that Paul took to finish 3 missionary journeys! So that should help us in accessing an Evangelist--we would suggest that whether an Evangelist is moving from place to place or staying in one location is not so crucial; and in line with what was previously mentioned about elders, even being part-time or full-time is not that crucial either. In line with what we've read, we would suggest that an Evangelist locate himself (whether temporarily or permanently) and distribute his time according to what the Holy Spirit wills, not according to what he wills.
2. This leads me conveniently to my 2nd point: the degree of reliance on the Holy Spirit in Philip's life and ministry. In this last century we've seen many many good evangelists develop, people like Billy Graham, Rodney Howard-Browne, Steve Hill, etc. Check them out. Billy Graham is an interesting one. He initially didn't believe in the infilling of the Holy Spirit, but every message he preached was so full of conviction power, something he attributes to God. He was the presidential advisor for 5 different US Presidents during his ministry. The interesting thing was, in the 90s he heard about the move of God, about how people were falling under the power of God, having joy through holy laughter, etc. So he decided to try it out. He asked a Pentecostal preacher to lay hands on him--and what I like was Graham's statement--"If it's God, I'll know. And if it's Satan, I'll know too, because he won't be able to touch me." The Pentecostal preacher laid hands on Graham, Graham went down under the power, and got up saying, "It's God". =)

The interesting thing is that in this last century, Evangelists started sprouting from both the Pentecostal and cessationist denominations. Pentecostals would have no problem attributing the voice of God to God the Holy Spirit, but cessationists are usually reluctant to take this stance. What I found interesting though, is that even in cessationist Evangelists, they are heavily led by the voice of God: the prompting of God to preach in a certain place, the "burden" for certain people, and the reliance on God to "convict the hearts and minds of people about sin, righteousness and judgment". Well, the conclusion is rather obvious, actually--both are correct: they are both relying on God. After all, whether they realise it or not, the God they are relying on is none other than the Holy Spirit Himself. Jesus specifically said that the Holy Spirit is the one responsible for convicting the hearts of men about sin, righteousness and judgment--about convincing them to believe in Jesus.

So whether they realise it or not, Evangelists from both sides are actually descendants of Philip, who left a legacy in terms of reliance on the voice of God (the Holy Spirit). And I would encourage all future would-be Evangelists to do the same.

(Btw, I'm purposely leaving the "bad sheep" TV-evangelists out of the discussion. Too much mixture of good and bad in my opinion. We should have an online discussion about how you guys feel about these people.)

3. Did you notice that Philip's ministry was very marked by being "full of the Spirit"? This is a convenient time for me to discuss this particular phrase. I should start with another phrase first: being "filled with the Spirit". Being filled with the Spirit is where the Holy Spirit comes upon you in power (Acts 1:8). The result?

i) A transformation of life, even of personality (look at the changed Peter)
ii) A tremendous spiritual growth spurt, demonstrated in:

• increased love for Jesus
• increased love for the Scriptures and prayer
• manifestations caused by the power of God--this is important because it initiates you into the spiritual realm and causes you to be sensitive and aware about the unseen;
  
• increased faith
• with increased faith, increased authority (to declare God's will, e.g. Peter in Ananias and Sapphira)
  
• increased ability to take rejection and persecution for the sake of Jesus
• spiritual gifts: God-given supernatural abilities which you were personally not capable of before.

As an analogy, let's take puberty. Without puberty, you were still a human being: you had 2 eyes, a nose, a mouth, you were able to move, talk, disobey and annoy your parents. :D So let's take the Christian that has not yet been filled with the Spirit. He is a child of God, loves Jesus, reads the Word, prays, and does what he can to follow Christ. That's all good and true. But with puberty, kids change. Voices deepen, characteristics that make people attractive appear, intellectual thought is stimulated and deepened, the development of the emotions rapidly increases pace (through mood changes and listening to music); the social aspect develops, where there is a stronger need to belong and find identity more than before; and in general, a deeper appreciation (or even struggle) of life as a human being. Same it is with the infilling of the Holy Spirit: when the Holy Spirit fills a person, the person changes. Suddenly all the words of Scripture "come to life". Suddenly God, and his presence, become very very real to you. Your spiritual "muscles" start to develop: you begin to tear down the works of the enemy, you find new ways of helping others in God, and even your spiritual "voice" starts to deepen, so to speak: you have a newfound sense of authority over the sin and struggles in your life and are able to command demons and strongholds to exit your life. Your knowledge of the Scriptures is stimulated--whereby God himself reveals the words of the Scripture to you in a more accelerated fashion than before. It's not that you've never had this before: it's just that you have never grown THAT fast. Your love for the church and the people of God deepens. And, above all, you develop an insatiable taste for the experience of God as he is: other-worldly, wholly other, "how unsearchable his ways and thoughts"--previously unsearchable, but now for once you have had a glimpse of his glory and his personhood and there is no looking back. Like Moses, for the first time you saw His glory: only that instead of just seeing the back, you have the promise of seeing more and more of the Front. Unlike Isaiah, who said "Woe is Me!" and had to have his lips cleansed, you stare brazen at His glory, all your shame covered by the blood of the Lamb, to see the Father's loving face in the fullness of its brightness and splendour. And then you realise, probably for the first time in your life, what it truly means to experience Him in you: such an intimacy, such an interwovenness, not theoretical but experiential, not limited but freely given to all who will partake of him. And yet that initial infilling is not the be-all and the end-all. As He fills you more and more, your sense of identity is even more interwoven in Him; your experience of Him grows that much stronger and powerful. You begin to realise the truly supernatural nature of your God, and that you have merely touched the iceberg in terms of knowing who He really is. Knowing Him becomes the lifetime quest, to know the unknowable, to search the unsearchable, the One who Is and Is to Come.

"And the things of the earth
Will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace."

And this, is merely to be filled with the Spirit, not yet even to be "full of the Spirit".

This is a good time to stop. And a good time to pray. =)

To be continued.

Here's a posting I promised -- The FiveFold Ministry (Part II)

Leadership Gift #2: Teachers

As the term suggests, teachers teach. However there's often a confusion between these terms-- "teaching" and "preaching"--so it's best to clarify what is meant here. Most of the time, the Bible doesn't exactly use the term "preaching", but uses the term "proclamation" (kerruso) and "spreading (the Good News)" (euangelion). Don't want to be too technical, but in a nutshell, this is what it connotes:

a) Proclamation: Declaring with authority and demanding obedience. This usually is done, for instance, in reading out the King's edict.
b) Spreading/Witnessing: To tell people about the experience that you yourself had.

What is interesting is that between these 2 words, proclamation is the one that is closest to the modern term "preaching", in that it does connote some kind of public speech. However, in the context of the New Testament, it usually refers to the proclamation of the Gospel, i.e. evangelism in a public context, yet in a way that is pretty authoritative and demanding of obedience. It's very much like how the prophets in the OT used to declare God's will for the people. So these 2 terms tend to be used more for the declaration of the Good News than anything else. On the other hand, there is another word for "teaching" (didasko), which is to do with presenting truth in a form that is as complete as possible, erasing doubts, misunderstanding, while not necessarily having to demand action or obedience at the immediate instance. So IMHO, a distinction should be made between "preaching" (which in the 2 words above seems largely about proclaiming the Gospel and the need to obey God with regards to believing Jesus Christ) and "teaching".

(So here once again, we cross some traditional lines. "Preaching", in our current day context, seems to connote any public speech made in the church, whereas "teaching" seems to be either some Christian Education class activity or something you do in the cell group. Or, some people have a cruder notion--that preaching is somehow motivational in its tone, whereas teaching is a systematic enquiry into the truth (i.e. it's all about style rather than anything else). In the Outreach, we would suggest that both the above definitions seem to miss the point a little. The Bible seems to suggest that "preaching" is a public speech, but one that is commanding/compelling in nature, demanding obedience towards God's edict about Jesus. There is an authoritative sting to it. And this need not take place within a church--it could well be anywhere else where an audience is gathered. As for speeches made from the pulpit, we would not automatically assume they are "teaching", too. There's another category of speeches--the kind that is meant to stir up your faith and to motivate you to love the Lord more passionately--that kind we would call "encouragement", 'cos after all, it need not necessarily be new truth, but rather it stirs and motivates you to do something about that truth. So "teaching" would be defined as someone opening up the Scriptures to help you to know more about God, about what Jesus and the early apostles did, and about God's general will for your life. "Encouragement" is equally important. God uses the gift of encouragement to help all of us, especially when we're faced with a stressful week or when we need some gusto to make the changes we need to in our walk with God.)

So back to teaching. Teachers should enable you to appreciate God's Word more, to interpret it more correctly, and to be able to get the general principles from God's Word so that you can apply it intelligently in your life. They would be in touch with scholarship about the Scriptures and help to provide you with a relatively safe way of interpreting the Scriptures. Above all, teachers who do their job well would inspire you to love reading the Scriptures, and enable you to arrive at your own (hopefully relatively precise) conclusions independently from them.

Can I suggest that this is a very important function? Let me appeal to two groups of people: 1) People who believe everything their Pastor/Elder says because he/she is inspirational; 2) People who move powerfully in faith. My appeal, through the love of Christ, is to pay attention to the teachers who sprout out in your midst. To the 1st group, I want to suggest that at times, questioning or even disagreeing with your Elder is an important step in your growth as a Christian. Ultimately, you want to be dependent on the Scriptures and on Jesus Christ, not your Elder. But all too often, people disagree for the wrong reasons. They disagree because they don't like what the Bible says and don't like to change. Which is terrible--it shows hardness of heart, really. (By the way, this is true of all of us. None of us in our right minds like to change from our worldly ways. But we need to change. Amen. Heh.) So if you disagree because you don't like what your Elder says, that's rebellion. But if you disagree because somehow you have a gut feeling something is wrong--and you actually search the Scriptures for what it really says--if you present your objection respectfully, your Elder will respect you for your insight into the Scriptures. And the key to this is an informed approach to the Scriptures, not just interpreting it based on "what I feel" or "what I think" about it.

So teachers have a really important function for the church. They can tell you what the sentence originally meant, and they can also help you to develop your capacity to read the Bible intelligently. Don't despise them. And if, from an informed perspective, you come to the conclusion that your Elder was right after all, then you will be a solid encouragement to him because you will be able to back up what he says, with even more evidence than what he himself provided. And don't forget that by doing all this, you are not aiming to please the Elder, but to please God Almighty himself, for whom the Scripture and all our obedience is for. Amen!

For the 2nd group, the usual problem I see is that these people tend to think that the Scriptures (and its interpretation) are not that important. I can understand why: to be very honest, the Christian faith is not difficult to pick up and run with it. Honestly. It was meant even for children and non-educated fishermen to participate. How chim can it be? :P Honestly, if you want to go far in the Christian faith, at the starting part, you don't need a lot of knowledge--you need a lot of faith. Why do I say this? For 3 reasons: i) Because Christianity is largely practical: it's not about how much you know, but about how much you put into practise (cf Jesus' parable on the house that was built on rock VS sand); ii) Powerful Christianity is not so much about how much you know compared to WHO you know. If you know Jesus, you can cast out demons by a simple order. But if you don't know Jesus, demons will shout back: "Jesus I know very well, and as for Paul, I've heard of him, but who on earth are you?" (Acts 19:15-16). And your relationship with Christ is largely based on faith ('faithing' for those who want more precision). The more he indwells you and possesses you, the more Satan can't stand being in the same room as you. iii) Powerful Christianity includes the need to be filled with the Spirit, so that the Spirit can produce his fruit in you (Gal 5), give you the signs that follow the Gospel (Mark16:14-18, Acts 1-2), and -this I like the most- so that you can have powerful encounters with your God (2 Cor 3:7-11, exemplified in Acts 7:55-56, 10:9-16, 23:11, Rev 1:10). Read those Scriptures if you're not sure what I'm talking about. Christianity is really really experiential. I don't know about you, but if my God could demonstrate himself so powerfully to Peter, to Paul, and to John--not the signs and wonders, mind you, but the experience of God: to encounter the wonder of our God in the spiritual dimension, aside from just the physical world, arguably, to be brought by Him to the realm He himself belongs in--now that is something really really special. So I'm speaking to those of you who earnestly desire to know your God, who really just want to love Him and who want everything and anything associated with Him. The key to many of your successes: your faith. And who am I to despise your faith? For the Master himself likes great faith. "Great is your faith!" he would say, and then proceed to do something utterly supernatural. =)

But now I wish to help you to grow even further. Faith helps you in your experience with God. Now you need to add to that knowledge. I repeat: "add to that", not "replace faith with". Why? 1) It will sharpen your gifting. Let me give you a simple illustration. Some of you have this gift called the "gift of knowledge", where through faith, God allows you to know something about someone else that you wouldn't normally know. Usually it's such a deep secret that when you say it, the person is utterly shocked and says "how did you know?" Now sometimes, just to confirm it, God gives you a piece of Scripture meant to strengthen your faith and to reassure you that "yes child, you heard correctly". The problem is, when you don't know your Scriptures carefully, you have no idea whether a passage was taken out of context or not. To you it's correct and has that meaning, but to a Bible teacher, it can be utterly wrong or the Scripture you use might have exactly the opposite meaning. So the problem is that a lot of confusion can develop: the Bible teacher thinks that "God would never make mistakes" and so "since yours is a misinterpretation, bingo, you're wrong". Whereas the true picture is that God already knew you, and only you, would ever interpret that passage this way, and therefore let you, not the Bible teacher, see that passage to reassure you. But as you can see, it's potentially very confusing and misleading. Whereas--if you had already developed the skills of interpreting Scripture, God himself knows you have that skill. Guess what? He'll give you a passage, in line with what he wants to say, and it will still have the effect of bringing out the "WOW" in the person you minister to, and it will all be in context. The best part? Sometimes God will even entrust you with a whole chapter that speaks directly to the person's life, and in very convicting terms that even you yourself could not say! That's what I mean by sharpening your gifting. Don't diminish your faith: don't doubt the gift that God has given you. Just add to it: be able to handle your Scriptures properly, and then God will use both gifts at once, and it will be so irrefutable and so dynamic at the same time.

2) It will keep you away from deceiving spirits. Many a great man has fallen because they went wonky with their faith. Many heresies have plauged the church one way or the other. Immunise yourself against them! Take "Holy Bible antibiotic/jab/vitamins!"

So to the 2nd group of people: that's why you need the teachers. Don't despise them. Acquire the giftings they have, and you will be able to tell good from bad. Avoid rhetoric that says "all of them only have theological degrees, but we have the power of the Spirit!" Avoid. You want both. Have faith in God, and grow in your maturity in the Lord. Then you will know good from bad, and I wish it wasn't any other way, but you cannot get there through a shortcut (i.e. it WILL take some time). You will need to deal both with theology (which doesn't have to be chim, btw. Theology just means "the knowledge of God") and with the power of God. This will make you an effective Christian.

It's a long post, but as a last note, something I mentioned before: the 5-fold gifts are meant to equip all of us to become "5-fold Christians". Just like having Pastors still means all of us need to love one another, having Teachers also means all of us need to teach one another (Matt 28:16-20). Teachers are specialists in the area of teaching. They are meant to be an inspiration to us to love God by loving His Scripture, handling it correctly, and in terms of teaching others the Word. You will notice that all the 5-fold are meant to specialise in an area, inspire others to do the same, and equip others to move in that area.

To be continued.

Chicken Soup for the Christian

Below is an excerpt from a conversation I had with my student who is 15 yrs of age. She comes from a non-Christian family, and what's amazing is that she dared to make a stand for Christ, just at the age of Primary 3. Today she's still active in church and loving God. Hope this encourages those of you who struggle at home because of the gospel--you are not alone, and your paying the price paves the way for your family to receive the gospel. God Bless.

ARGH!MySpecs-.-ll says:
well, just to let you know, i was born in a non-christian family.

[ChosenTM] says:
=) cool!

ARGH!MySpecs-.-ll says:
so my dad and mum, somehow usually use words like, "sh*t" and, "ch** b*i" etc. which is really kinda irritating.

[ChosenTM] The ceiling is ALWAYS leaking. says:
mmmmz. amen to the "irritating" bit! hahhaa.

ARGH!MySpecs-.-ll says:
but i believe, God has a plan for me to be in this family, though.

[ChosenTM] The ceiling is ALWAYS leaking. says:
yeah you're abs right there
i admire pple who come from non-christian families u know
u guys fight battles that I never got to fight
u'll b a blessing to ur family...and to your family (and children!) in the future!!
hahahaaa.

ARGH!MySpecs-.-ll says:
yeah, thats true. but sometimes i dun understand people who come from christians family. usually children who come from christian families, dun really treasure the fact that they are from christian families.

[ChosenTM] The ceiling is ALWAYS leaking. says:
ya. a pox on them.

ARGH!MySpecs-.-ll says:
they sometimes wish that they were not born in a christian family.
but im sure there are many out there, like me, who wished to be borned in a christian family.
but maybe God has a better plan for us, those who are born in non-christian family.
cos Jesus, say He is the way, the truth and the life. No one goes to the Father except through Him.

[ChosenTM] The ceiling is ALWAYS leaking. says:
true true
maybe if not for pple like u, your family may never even get to hear the gospel u know.
so pple like u are really a blessing to the families u are in

ARGH!MySpecs-.-ll says:
yeah, and i really hope to see that, the tablets behind me will not be there.

[ChosenTM] says:
hahahaz

ARGH!MySpecs-.-ll says:
as well as the statues of idols.
and as well as other households
HAHAHAHAH.

[ChosenTM] says:
ya ya ha...

ARGH!MySpecs-.-ll says:
well, i rmb the first time i bravely told my parents i dun want to go temple with them anymore
(that was , i think primary 3 or something)
and then, my father had quite a big reaction.
said that i didn't respect my grandparents and blah (cos all my grandparents are dead.)
but well, i told them that, it is what my religion requires me to do, so respect it
(or something like that)

[ChosenTM] The ceiling is ALWAYS leaking. says:
HAHAHA
wah so brave!

ARGH!MySpecs-.-ll says:
till today, well, they no longer ask me to go to the temple.
i did it 'cos i rmb the children church said before not to worship other gods.
and cos they always go on sundays,
which kind of clash with my children church at that time.
--------------

I was quite (in fact, very) impressed. Here is someone who at a young age was practising some of the principles that sometimes we adults struggle with: learning how to take a stand, learning how to brave her parents' scolding, and making it a point to forsake other gods and to place priority on church. There's a lot we can learn from this young one. To this young lady, if you are reading: Keep up the good work, Padawan! You have a bright future as a Jedi someday. :)

Let's have a move of the HOLY SPIRIT in our church!!!!

ROAR!!!

Random post from the Evangelistic Elder. =)

Here's a posting I promised -- The FiveFold Ministry (Part I)

Hi brothers and sisters,

As I promised, I'll take this chance to explain some things about the leadership structure of the Church (the church as a whole), and in so doing, explain how The Outreach functions. As usual, there are always a few key preliminaries to be said:

1. There is no absolute biblical model. In The Outreach, we try to be as biblical as possible, but what you will notice is that i) almost all church models point to the same Scripture passages for their authentication and ii) even your New Testament churches followed a variety of models. So what we can try to do is to identify certain models that fit the biblical pattern, weigh pros and cons, and decide on the one that is the most relevant for our people in Singapore.
2. Church structures are usually cultural rather than set in stone. Many church practices are that way--the early church used to use the format of the synagogue as a pattern for worship. But some churches use church organs to sing, some believe music should be forbidden altogether, and some use state-of-the-art equipment as part of honouring God. Honestly, the Bible has nothing against all of these methods. So what we can see is that the Bible allows us to innovate with some of these things, expressing what we feel by the symbols and practices of our day. In other words, the principle we should take from this is that our God is forever relevant to society--he is able to accept our changing practices and means of honouring him. What matters is what is inside, the reasons and thoughts behind each practise/innovation. So our church structure is not perfect too. (I'll dare to say that) it is highly innovative, considering the standards of our day, but it's not set in stone, and when it outruns its effectiveness (perhaps in a century or two), then it might be time to change it.
3. Any church structure change should be gradual rather than a overhaul. Overhauls are painful. And usually, they are only needed when the church becomes so outdated that it had better re-start a new way of doing things. My sincere hope for us as one of the churches of God is that we won't wait for crises to happen before we start innovating with structure. Innovate gradually, changing as we develop, so that we can be more and more effective and faithful to God's call for the church.

Now having said that, the Bible states 5 key leadership positions: the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher (Eph 4:11-14). This list is non-exhaustive, but it states some of the most important leaders within any church. These leaders are also called "elders" (Acts 14:23, 1 Tim 3, 1 Pet 5:1-- "I too am an elder"). In general, this word elder connotes 2 things:

i) The word itself connotes that the person is a 'senior' in the faith, someone relatively more spiritually mature than others in the church. But how long is long enough? Acts 14:23 seems to connote that these elders were appointed 1-2 years after becoming Christians--which is pretty short for us today! What we can take from this is that A) it's relative: an elder can be someone slightly more mature than the rest, and appointed an elder by virtue of the fact that there's no one more 'elder' than him; B) in the Outreach, elders are usually appointed, with the first and binding guideline that they are quite mature in the faith (between 8-15 years as a Christian, but as from the Scripture above, exceptions are also possible), rather than because "there's a job that needs to be done". So anyone who is an elder needs to demonstrate that in terms of the faith, he/she is not a novice. And it is possible for elders to be appointed without portfolio, since the need to get work done is not the top priority in choosing an elder.

ii) Given that the term seems to overlap with the 5-fold ministry in Ephesians, we can conclude that as a second priority, most of the elders would end up taking up leadership positions one way or the other, where they will use their 5-fold gifts God has given them to get their jobs done. (More on that later.)

iii) Given the fact that the elders we hear about can be part-time (like those in Acts 14) or full-time (1 Peter), we conclude that part-time or full-time is not what defines an elder. An elder should be part-time or full-time according to what God has called him towards.

(A note: Here we are crossing some traditional lines. People have usually assumed elders to be part-timers, and "Pastors" to be full-timers. But the Bible gives very little evidence to support this view. In fact, the Bible seems to indicate that Pastors are just one (although an important one, at that) of the 5 leadership positions that are meant to help the church develop towards maturity (Eph 4). So IMHO, it would be better to call elders according to their proper giftings, rather than to lump them all together and call them "Pastors", when they really might not be very pastoral at all. --> more details on this later.)

Leadership Gift #1: Pastors!

Pastor = shepherd
Pastoral = countryside, to do with sheep, rural

I'll try to keep this short and simple. Pastors are-- *breaks out into the infantry song* "the bedrock of our army, fighting to keep our people free, committed to the independence of our people, they are the men from the Pastoral Team" (!)

Haha. They are shepherds, in other words. Their job? To care for, feed, and help to nurture injured sheep. To look for sheep when they are lost. They thus do a very important function in the Body: to care for people, to call the other Christians when they are sick, to listen to their problems, to buy food for them if they're hungry, to cry together with them, to scold them sometimes when the sheep really deserve it, etc etc. They are your foster parents, in a spiritual sense.

Something I forgot to mention--all the eldership giftings, btw, are not limited to the respective elders. i.e. Pastors' primary job is to care for sheep, but that doesn't mean we can all hands-off and let the pastors do all the caring. In fact, ALL of us are called to love one another as Christ has loved us. So I would say that all the eldership functions in fact point to us as Christians: we're supposed to be fulfilling all 5 functions. It's just that in this case, Pastors are particularly good (and specialised) in loving people: it flows naturally from them and is their unique strength. They thus are role models for us in caring for people, and they are also the subject specialists who can train us to love people more effectively (and to develop the heart of care towards others, which is even more important).

To be continued. Quite tired liao. :P

An interesting article. Do you all agree with what is stated?

The Holy, Scandalous Women of the Bible

There are 5 women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus. Now that might not strike you as a big deal, until you understand that women are never mentioned in those genealogies. It's always men. "The father of so-and-so, the son of so-and-so." They read like baseball cards. When Matthew adds a few women to the cast, it is a major and notable exception. These women are so important to God that He has the writer break all cultural norms and even open himself to criticism and dismissal in order to make a point: "Look here - these are really good women."

Of course, Mary the mother of Jesus is mentioned. There is also the Bible-study favorite, Ruth. And two others - Rahab and Tamar. What distinguishes these women? Different situation, different acts of obedience. Yet the common theme is this: Courage, Cunning and Stunning Vulnerability. Mary is an amazing young woman. Maybe fifteen or so. She accepts the mission God brings to her even though it will cost her dearly. Really now - a young girl known to be seeing an older man turns up pregnant, claiming she is impregnated by God? She is virtuous, but her choice will be seen by others as scandalous all her life. She makes herself vulnerable - staggering vulnerable (she could be stoned for this; certainly she will be abandoned and ostracized) - in order to follow God.

Tamar's story is difficult and beautiful, one we haven't time for here. But one worth wrestling with. (You can find it in Genesis 38.) She uses cunning in the face of men who are failing her badly in order to expose their sin and invite (not demand) them to come through. Rahab is another scandalous story. She's the woman who committed treason in order to walk with God and save her family. (She hid spies of Israel when they came to her city, Jericho, on a preinvasion reconnaissance mission - in open defiance of her government.) We haven't heard any Bible studies on that one, either. "When Treason Becomes Essential for a Woman." And there is Ruth. This is how I explained her story in Wild at Heart.

Ruth, as you remember, is the daughter-in-law of a Jewish woman named Naomi. Both woman have lost their husbands and are in a pretty bad way; they have no man looking out for them, their financial stauts is below the poverty line, and they are vulnerable in many other ways as well. Things begin to look up when Ruth catches the eye of a wealthy single man named Boaz. Boaz is a good man, this we know. He offers her some protection and some food. But Boaz is not giving Ruth what she really needs - a ring.

So what does Ruth do? She seduces him. Here's the scene: The men have been working dawn till dark to bring in the barley harvest; they just finished and now it's party time. Ruth takes a bubble bath and puts on a knockout dressl then she waits for the right moment. That moment happens to be late in the evening after Boaz has had a little too much to drink: "When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits..." (Ruth 3:7). "Good spirits" is in there for the more conservative readers. The man is drunk, which is evident from what he does next: pass out. "...he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile." (3:7) What happens next is simply scandalous, the verse continues,"Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down."

There is no possible reading of this passage that is "soft" or "nice." This is seduction pure and simple - and God holds it up for all women to follow when He not only gives Ruth her own book in the Bible but also names her in the genealogy. Yes, there are folks that'll try to tell you that it's perfectly common for a beautiful single woman "in that culture" to approach a single man (who's had too much to drink) in the middle of the night with no one else around (the far side of the grain pile) and tuck herself under the covers. They're the same folks who'll tell you that the Song of Solomon is nothing mroe than a "theological metaphor referring to Christ and his bride." Ask them what they do with passages like "Your stature is like that of the palm, and your breasts like clusters of fruit. I said 'I will climb the palm tree; I will take hold of its fruit' " (Song 7:7-8) That's a Bible Study, right?

No, I do not think Ruth and Boaz had sex that night; I do not think anything inappropriate happened at all. But this is no fellowship potluck, either. I'm telling you that the church has really crippled women when it tells them that their beauty if vain, and they are at their feminine best when they are "serving others." A woman is at her best when she is being a woman. Boaz needs a little help getting going and Ruth has some options. She can badger him: All you do is work work work. Why won't you stand up and be a man? She can whine about it: Boaz please hurry up and marry me. She can emasculate him: I thought you were a real man; I guess I was wrong Or she can use all she is as a woman to get him to use all he's got as a man. She can arouse, inspire, energize... seduce him. Ask your man what he'd prefer.

Now, am I suggesting that a single woman spend the night at her boyfriend's apartment in order to arouse him to marry her? No. Am I saying that a married woman ought to offer herself sexually to her husband even though he's been abusive to her? No. No more than the sotry of Peter walking on the water tells us all to get a boat, go out on a lake, and give it a try. The principle of the story is what matters here. Ruth takes a risk - a risk every woman knows - when she makes herself vulnerable and alluring to Boaz. She arouses him to play the man. She awakens his desire to be the Hero. That's the point.

A response from a friend to "The Price"

Hi Daniel,

Just wanted to thank you for writing this post. You gave me much to think about the Holy Spirit, and reminded me of something very simple...that if I'm not sure of something, I should try asking the Holy Spirit first of all.

Personally, I think I have doubts as to whether the Holy Spirit moves in the way that you describe because of fear. Thinking about it, I think it's the same reason why I was resistant to the Gospel before. Generally (this does not just apply to what you tell me about the Holy Spirit), I'm afraid of being wrong, that what I'm believing in would turn out to be something untrue or harmful or heresy (I'm always troubled by reports about cult members, terrorists, people who commit atrocities because they believe so strongly in a system, like communism, the Khmer Rouge, the Tamil Tigers, etc), because their examples show what happens when you really believe and place your faith in the wrong things.) It's not really that I want to grieve the Holy Spirit (at least that's what I think...). I think if I were living in Jesus's day and had encountered Him when He was on earth, I would have been one of those who rejected Him for being a heretic, because what He was
teaching was quite different from what the authorities or mainstream society approved of.

Of course, there are other reasons why I'm afraid. I'm afraid of people's rejection, of being marginalised by mainstream society. I think this is the price that one has to pay that you were talking about? Then I will think, the other Christians that I know really love God, and they seem to get along quite ok without radical things happening in their lives, and it's so much easier to just fit in with the crowd. I guess I'm afraid of paying the price, if indeed there is something to be gained.

I find that it really takes effort to keep an open mind, to consider a new perspective which is different from, even opposite to my own, to see whether it could be true. I would much prefer to be right instead of wrong--it's upsetting to realise that I have been wrong, and also very difficult to admit to people that I have been wrong. I guess that's my pride. So this fear of being wrong prevents me from going out on a limb and making a strong stand for something or another.

But if indeed the Holy Spirit is really like what you say, and trying to get to know the Holy Spirit in this way can help me to know God more and love Him more, than I would want to try to learn more about this...

Yup, so this is my two cents' worth.

Yours,
Anonymous (Name has been changed to protect identity)

----------------
Elder's Response: This is a very reflective and heartfelt response and I just want to encourage the sister who gave this reply. I think it's important to know that all of us are not perfect, but what matters most is that we can come this honestly before God, acknowledging who we are and what we bring to the table. God is not looking for "perfect" people, but people who will be honest enough to acknowledge their lack. Although acknowledging that we can be wrong is unpleasant, but those who are able to do so will not be wrong much longer, for God is able and more than able to make us strong. To pretend we have it all together will postpone our healing and will not make us effective for God.

To this sister: May God grant you the faith you need to overcome fear. :) Your acknowledgment is a holy thing in the sight of God--and I pray He will soon reveal himself to you, in His love, grace, and power, and take away all the apprehension. I pray you will overcome, and that through your example, others who are equally as apprehensive will also move into knowing the Person of the Holy Spirit. God bless and keep you safe in his arms.

Repost: As we start 2009

Hi guys,

Even as Project Y is starting again in 1.5 weeks time, it's a good time to reflect about what this church is all about and what this year holds for us. And so, in the name and authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, I have a few words to say to this church:

1. This "church": Our church, the Outreach, as it stands is a really itsy-bitsy church. =) We're not even a "Small Medium Enterprise", we're an "Itsy-Bitsy Enterprise". At least in terms of numbers, venue, and the usual things that in our culture defines a "church". Nonetheless as our Lord Jesus has said--"where two or three gather in my name, there I am among them". He also said, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it."

I think this is important. Jesus is saying that i) we (the two or three) are his church; the people of God are the church, not any building, creed, or organisation; ii) that he will only build his church. This church is not mine, or Chris', or Ben's, or anyone else's. It belongs solely to Jesus and Jesus alone. He calls the shots. We (the elders) are just his employees, and honestly, if we fail to do his bidding, in the words of Donald Trump, "we're fired". iii) "the gates of hell will not prevail against it": know this, folks, that this church will not have any easy times ahead. The devil doesn't like this project, neither does he like the idea of people hearing about Jesus and discussing Jesus. So expect bombardment from him: sudden urgent matters, sudden cancellations from people, an overload of work/homework, family members being difficult, etc. But remember that Jesus will build his church. And if we are building his church, then he is for us, and no matter what may come our way, "the gates of hell shall never prevail against [this church]". So in all this, just rejoice, persevere--and when the devil realises you're not reacting the way he wants you to, these interferences will suddenly start to go away. Speaking from experience here =) In my words, he's gonna get bored and leave. Lol.

Paul said to the church in Corinth, "do you not know that all of you together are God's temple, God's alternative to life as usual, in the city of Corinth, in that the Spirit of God lives in all of you together? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple." (1 Cor 3:16-17) It's obvious that God takes the local church very seriously indeed. The most important point though that I got from that is the very protective stance of God over the believers, i.e. his church, in that if anyone dares to touch and destroy his people, he's going to stand up for them in no equivocal terms. In the same way, I hear God speaking to us: do we not know that we are God's church, an alternative to life as usual, in SMU, and wherever else we choose to meet? In our midst people, ordinary folk like all of us, get to experience who God is, get to hear him, and get to see life as it usually isn't on earth. People who are searching, who don't know God, who come into contact with all of us together will get to see God, and God's community as it is supposed to be lived.

Thank God for the many churches in Singapore, doing their job to feed the people of God and to reach those in their midst. But there are people only you and I can touch, who will come only because it was you and I who invited them, who will not feel comfortable discussing religious topics with anyone else except us, who for some reason or another feel safe talking with us about these things, and who know that we can accept their differences without judging them. These are people only we can talk to, and who deserve a chance to evaluate Jesus Christ properly for themselves, not getting their info from hearsay or from insensitive sources.

This being said, the rest of the points are easy to say:

2. For the whole church, this year the priority is for all of us to know God more and more, and to find new ways to contribute to each other's lives. God has given us different abilities, to be used for the benefit of all. So let me announce some things that are in the works:

i) Proj Y: Most of this year will be spent letting our friends know about Jesus and letting them take their time to know God better. (I include Mohan here under this category, i.e. take your time to know God better at your own pace. =) ) The roles have been assigned for the 1st Proj Y. I wanna emphasise again that I don't wanna be a taskmaster, so really, if anyone's in a tough spot, or the task really isn't a good fit for you and it's counterproductive, please let me know in the frankest of terms. We'll see if we can do a switch or do without it for that week altogether. Aims? Just to hear them out, let them know about Christ, and see if any of them decide to go with Christ. If any of them come to Christ, then there'll be more of other stuff to do, but if not, it's a good exposure for everybody.

ii) Teaching: God has given most of us a pretty good foundation in the knowledge of Him. Thus moving with what God has given us, the Christian Education (CE) dept is practically set up. 2 courses will be run and is open to the public: one on Romans, and the other on Biblical Interpretation. This takes place on Tues evenings. Besides that, a basics class will also be run for those who have just started to know Christ. This basics class will only start after the first Proj Y, and is on the usual Sunday slot that we use for Proj Y.

iii) Prophecy: Recently God has given some of us the ability to hear, supernaturally, God's will for ourselves and others. It isn't a magical ability that we command at will, but rather, whenever the situation calls for it, some of us will be able to deliver God's specific command for the people involved. As part of helping everyone, we wanna give more room for those having such an ability to bless the people more, rather than making it a reactive thing where it's only exercised in an emergency. So as often as we can, anyone who feels led by the Lord to share a message, just mention it first to Chris or Dan, and after that we can allow you to share it with the church. There will be some specific church meetings that will allow certain people we call Prophets (people who specialise in spending time with God and knowing his will) to exercise their gifting in a deeper manner.

iv) In line with this, we will also be making some major changes by the end of this year (I hope, if not early next year):
1. We will probably be getting a room for the church, partly as a form of care in case any of you are filled with the Spirit (we have no desire to publicly embarrass you, praise God :)
2. The order of service will change. There will probably be different programmes for different weeks of the month, so that we'll get to learn (and more importantly, experience) different things about God. Check the blogs for bi-monthly updates about the schedule. In line with this, I will also be explaining about the 5 different types of elders (what we call the 5-fold ministry) and how God uses them to be a blessing to your lives. I will encourage all of you to make it a point of conviction to come every week, particularly when we start this new order of service. Come every week so that you will have some kind of "balanced diet". The last thing we should see is people becoming unbalanced and becoming spiritually stunted children. :D
3. Stay tuned for timing changes as well. So far it's not been confirmed, but it is a possibility.

I trust that this blog will be useful for your spiritual education. May the God of peace and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ keep you safe in His arms, and shower you with more love and grace for the year ahead. God bless all of you richly.

Yours faithfully,
Daniel Ng
Presiding Elder
Outreach Church Singapore

The comments are working again!!

Hallelujah!!

The Price

Hi people,

Before I begin, just wanna say:

1. A big thanks to all for bearing with the silence thus far; now that my Practicum is over and I have a bit more time, will use this platform to update all the Outreach people more.
2. I noticed that somehow our blogskin stops people from putting comments. Anyone with a wise idea on how to solve the problem? :)
3. Chris' idea rocks. How many of the rest think so too? :D

By the way, today's post is unashamedly on the power of the Holy Spirit.

Let me say 3 things that every Christian must know before I get to what I want to say:

1. To live an overcoming life, you need the Holy Spirit. This was
i) advocated by Jesus (John 14:15-18);
ii) advocated by Paul (Gal 5:5, 16-26; Eph 6: 17-18, and even more passages in Romans and 1 Cor)
iii) experienced intimately by people like Peter (Acts 2, 4, 10)

2. You need to know Him as a Person. Before he does anything for you, you need to realise that according to what Jesus says:
i) He represents Jesus to you, i.e. Jesus is present with you through Him; (and for those of you who like the intellectual thrill, try this: since the Father is present through Jesus, and Jesus is present through the Holy Spirit, both Father and Son are present through the Holy Spirit. Rejecting the Spirit is rejecting the Son and the Father who sent Him.)
ii) He will teach you the way Jesus did
iii) He will guide you the way Jesus did on earth to his disciples
iv) He will empower you the way he did for Jesus.
So you need to know your God--the Holy Spirit.

3. You need to know his power. If you do not know his power:
i) Theologically, you will always be in error, even if you have the best scholarship-- "You are in error because you neither know the Scriptures, nor the power of God". The way I see it, Jesus is not giving us an option to either know the Scriptures or know the power (otherwise those who experience the power of God would know their theology exactly). Rather, he is saying that if we don't have both at the same time, we WILL be in error.

ii) You will not know what is resurrection life--"the same power that resurrected Christ from the dead". i.e. you will not know what it means to have the impossible happen in your life, what it means when the Scriptures say "for nothing is impossible with God" and when Jesus says "For with God, all things are possible". Rather, you will believe that impossible things happened last time, and you'll be happy to leave that "impossible" bit in history. This is an emotional blind spot many Christians have.

iii) You may find yourself unwittingly quenching/resisting/insulting the Spirit. First, let me explain terms. Resisting the Spirit is what people who are uninitiated to the Spirit do, e.g. they are disobedient to the prophecies/preaching of the Gospel; unwilling to change from tradition to what God intends to do, and more commonly, a general resistance to the radical counter-cultural behaviour that the Holy Spirit (and the whole of Christianity) demands. Stephen, for instance, labels the Israelite community (that should have known God): "Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That's what your ancestors did, and so do you!" (Acts 7:51-53). Note that v 53 says "You are the ones who received God's law". I will argue that resisting the Holy Spirit includes resisting the Gospel, and since the Israelite community resisted the gospel message mainly because of their tradition and resistance to change, I argue also that resisting the Holy Spirit includes resisting what he is doing, purely on the basis that "it doesn't fit within our tradition".

Quenching the Spirit? Less rebellious, but still rebellious. Mainly to do with people who know the Spirit's power, but who snuff any activity of the Spirit because of their own cynicism/disappointment.

Which actually leads me to my next point. If you didn't realise already, it is possible for the Holy Spirit, as a person, to be really offended. Do you like rejection? Probably not. The Holy Spirit is patient, but most people don't realise he has a tolerance level. There is a line that cannot be crossed with him. When you are resisted, do you like it? If someone, for instance, played politics with you at work, resisting you in all you do, do you like it? Well, think a bit about how the Holy Spirit feels when people resist the compelling pull of the Gospel or when they resist the compelling nature of his works. What if someone went around, undoing all the good you were trying to do? They quenched the effectiveness of your work. Guess what? That's what quenching the Spirit does. And even fewer people know that the Spirit of grace can be really insulted. The passage of Scripture about it is mainly about backsliding, but why he is insulted is more important. It's because that intentional backslider "treats as a cheap thing the sacrifice of Christ". It's got to do with the idea that "ahh, this salvation is worthless anyway". Makes sense, doesn't it? When someone treats what you do as cheap, that's insulting. When people treat what the Holy Spirit does as cheap, that insults him. And I argue that has to do with salvation, with his grace, with his works, and yes, his power.

I noticed something in common for those who have not experienced the power of God/had an experience, but it's so remote that it is the same era as when policemen wore shorts. They tend to belittle the experience of the power of God. Don't get me wrong: some are not amazed by it only because they are aiming for a higher experience of God. That's fine. But condescension towards someone else's experience of the power of God--somehow insinuating that "we are beyond it now"--is honestly insulting to the One who demonstrated his power. I also noticed that these are the same people who advocate "restraint" in all the activity of the Spirit--"we are comfortable about this this this and this, but as for that that that and that, I think we must exercise some self-restraint". Strange, they weren't very "restrained" in their scrutiny of the Bible to find an ant. They weren't very "restrained" about their need to gossip about other people's lives in the prayer meeting as well. Oh no, board meetings that take up 5 hours are fine. Oh but to have Spirit meetings that take 15 minutes longer than the appointed time--what will the poor people think? We better exercise some "restraint".

I have an easy word for that: it's called quenching the Spirit. The Spirit's extending the time? Call it off. The Spirit's delivering a word of prophecy? Condescend towards it and make people doubt all the way. Or don't be seen to oppose it-- ask them to "wait and see". No, don't encourage them to be obedient towards the vision--you never know, they might actually get to the stage where they can say as Paul did: "I was not disobedient to the vision". That wouldn't be good. --let's ask them instead to take that vision and put it on the shelf. Que sera sera. Whatever will be, will be.

But before I get too carried away being sarcastic about these people, I must say this: these people usually do not know they are quenching the Spirit. If they knew, they wouldn't have done it. Or resisting the Spirit, for that matter. Paul, for instance, participated in the stoning of Stephen. He was one of the people who Stephen included in his rebuke: "Must you always resist the Holy Spirit?" Later he was to say that he was a blasphemer, but did so ignorantly. There you have it, folks. Ignorance is the key to all bliss. And blaspheming, and resisting, and quenching.

Let me as sympathetic as possible. The main reason why people resist, quench, and insult the Spirit? Ignorance. They never hear his voice, so they cannot tell real prophecy from fake. They don't have the gift of discernment, but they try to substitute some kind of man-made objective measure by which someone can "tell" if it's of the Spirit. Why they never bother to ask the Spirit stumps me. I've asked him for tons of gifts, gifts that were never mine. He rarely said no, especially when I had a good reason for asking for it. He sometimes postponed though, but at the end of the day, he still gave it. What--you mean knowing the will of God for your life is the most unreasonable request in the world? You mean knowing if what someone said was God or pizza is "not bad, you know, but I have other things to do"? In China, if the emperor said "Stand on one leg", and you laughed in his face, saying "The Emperor would never ask me to do something like that", the heads of your nine clans might be his next pencil-holders. I think it's quite important to actually know whether an edict comes from the emperor or not. And in this case, this emperor rules this galaxy AND BEYOND. I'd hurry to know his voice if I were you.

Let me come back to ignorance. So the main reason why so many of these well-meaning folks resist the Spirit, is purely because of ignorance. They don't know that the Spirit is capable of doing something new. They believe only what their pastor tells them. They don't know what the Scriptures say. The most fatal mistake: they don't know the Spirit personally. If they did, even if they were the most noob in Scriptures, they could simply just ask him and he would tell them. And because these people are so ignorant, they use every other method to get God's job done: legalism, procedures, systems, and above all, explaining away what God is doing. The best part? They are ignorant that they themselves are so ignorant. So they devise methods, accepted norms, that allow them to get away with ignorance. Phrases like "we will never know if that message was from God or not until the time passes". Phrases like "these are all so dangerous. we must be very careful". I'd say to them: What's dangerous is you not knowing good from bad. You are the danger, not Him. They will misuse phrases like "ultimately it all comes down to Scripture", good phrases, but in their case misused to justify why they can totally ignore what God is saying and hide behind some Scriptures that are not intended to address their specific situation. Or "ultimately it's all about the fruit", not knowing that what the Spirit is doing might actually be intended to produce that fruit they were talking about.

Sorry it had to be this coarse, but that was the most sympathetic I could be. Sometimes I wish some of these people I am talking about could get offended enough to get off their hobby horse, deliberately prove me wrong, and show that they know what they are talking about. I will be the first to congratulate them. Really. But coming back to the point: if you don't know the Spirit's power (or assume you do when you don't), you are in danger of resisting, quenching, and insulting the Spirit.

A tip for you when dealing with the Spirit. Understand that the Spirit is the most sensitive divine being. I'm sorry I can't put it in any more accurate terms than that. Let me just explain what I mean. You know your heart? Your spirit? It's the most sensitive side of you. And it is the deepest side of you. It is the side where no secrets are kept, where you can be most easily injured, and where some thoughts that you never share with anyone are stored away. For "who knows the thoughts of his own heart better than his own spirit?" So it is with the Spirit of God: He is the Heart of God, the One who knows the thoughts of God better than anyone else. And with that argument, He is the most sensitive person of the Trinity, the one who is most easily hurt. A Bible teacher once said: "If God had a feminine side, the Spirit would be that." No, he is not helping the extreme feminists with their idea of a female God, but he is simply stating what I've been trying to say here: the Spirit of God is extremely sensitive and gentle, in my experience arguably the most sensitive, the easiest to chase away, and if God had a vulnerable side, the Spirit would be Him (because the Spirit cannot be an it. Haha.) . Notice the symbol He used to manifest himself: the dove. Notice the way the Spirit can be resisted, so easily and sometimes out of simple careless actions. Notice how conducive an environment we prepare with our hearts before the Spirit comes and takes his place. And yes, the idea of "blaspheming the Spirit" being the most unpardonable sin does play a part as well: blaspheming the Spirit, after all, is blaspheming the Heart of God. I don't want to make too big a point about this, because honestly the members of the Trinity are very alike to one another. But in my experience, yes, for some reason which I cannot define to a T, the Spirit is the most elusive member, the one who stays hidden behind the scenes, the one who I am more afraid to offend than anyone else, the one I know feels my sin very acutely, the one who faces the most rejection among the members of the Trinity. And that's partly why you need to know not to offend him. He's patient as ever, but just because he is patient, does not mean he is pleased. And usually when he is not pleased, it can be quite easy to tell.

This leads me to what I want to say. Church, we have a price to pay if we want to experience all that God has for us. Remember what Jesus said, that in this world you will have tribulation, but take courage, for he has overcome the world? I need you to know that the Spirit is your greatest treasure in the same way Jesus is your greatest treasure. If you have Him, you will have Jesus, and you will overcome the world. You must not shy away from rejection, from misunderstanding, from the consequences of being associated with the Spirit. This rejection can come from many quarters. The world will reject you. If you need confirmation about that, check out the Christians who recently came under fire from Aware and our press. Not too long ago, a very fantastic pastor came under fire too. He's Rick Warren, the one who wrote The Purpose Driven Life. A fantastic pastor and a model to many, but simply by being chosen to pray the opening prayer for Obama, he and Obama were criticised simply because he was not pro-homosexual. Look, fellas, whoever you are, I hope you realise following Christ is not going to be easy. It will be the most meaningful thing you have ever done, but I can also tell you that you will be the most rejected bunch ever. No matter how sensitive or caring you have been (Rick and the Aware Christians are good examples, but for Aware I know I need to give more substantiation--next time). The sooner you understand and appreciate that your lot is to suffer with Christ, the more joy and less strife you will experience in this life. The most pain, however, will come from your brethren who for some reason or another have allowed the devil to have a foothold in their life. I use this sentence very deliberately. They are not possessed by the devil, but they have allowed him a foothold over their life. You see, those who don't know (and don't care) will not bother you. They will just treat you like crazy. But those who have something to fight for--either to prove they're very spiritual, or to prove their tradition is correct, or simply because they get a thrill putting people down--will see you as their target. [There's a difference between inquisitiveness and cynicism. Those who are inquisitive will ask (and if not satisfied, criticise). Those who are cynical will simply criticise.] The three reasons above just point to one root problem: pride. They are somehow proud of the achievement they have had, even in the spiritual life. The interesting thing is that everyone will see the good fruit that results from the move of the Spirit, especially the non-Christians--but those with spiritual pride rarely see. And because they are bound with pride, the devil has a field day poking them on in their religious zeal to damage you. And of course, to stop other ignoramuses from enjoying the blessing you have.

So don't let these people get to you. Ignore them, and try to forgive them for the pain they cause (because pain from your own brothers is the worst). Remember that they know not what they do. Remember that the weapons you use are powerful to break down strongholds and to "take captive every proud argument that sets itself up against the knowledge of Christ". The Holy Spirit will guide you. You will be able to clear some of these religious mindsets. But expect the fiercest opposition nonetheless. You cannot clear every one, and you will have to learn to be joyful in spite of these people wasting your time.

Jan and I have paid a price recently. It is painful, but we know that (and I leave you with this): the best way to demonstrate love to the Holy Spirit, is none other than to stand on his side and to defend him. The way Jesus demonstrated love to the Holy Spirit (by defending what the Spirit did and not allowing the Pharisees to attribute it to demons without a counter-statement), the same way Peter demonstrated love to the Holy Spirit (by challenging Ananias and Sapphira when they lied to the Holy Spirit)--the same way they defended the Holy Spirit when his honour and reputation was at stake, we dare not say we have done, but at least in a very very small way, we are moving in that direction. I can only pray that enough of Daniel can die, so that I can be fully committed to standing on His side and defending His cause. And I pray that in your own inidividual ways, you too will reach that decision.