Missions Paul

Okay so that’s not in the Bible in that way is it? I mean, it’s not one of the 10 commandments.

At a time when not every church member could read and when certainly there would not be enough copies of Paul’s letter to go round, the Apostle told the church his letter had to be read within the Church setting when they were gathered.

It wasn’t his charge either. He was so convinced that he cites the Lord. He was saying there would be divine punishment if they didn’t do what he said.

“I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters.” (1 Thessalonians 5 v 27)

Can you imagine your Pastor saying divine punishment will be on you this week if you don’t read the Bible?! A tad strong I agree!

But such is the importance of the Bible even as it was being formed with the use of these letters inspired by the Spirit the command is to read it.

It has withstood vicious attacks of its enemies as no other book.  Many have tried to burn it, ban it, and outlaw it from the days of Roman emperors to present-day Communist-dominated countries.’

In 1778 it was said by someone that 100 years from then Christianity would be swept from existence and passed into history.  But what has happened?  The bible continues to be in circulation and Christianity as strong today as ever. 

No other book has been so chopped, knived, sifted, scrutinized, and slandered, which other book has been subject to such a mass attack as the bible?

If this book had not been the book of God, men would have destroyed it long ago.

Emperors and popes, kings and priests, princes and rulers have all tried their hand at it; they die and the book still lives.

I guess you have read the Bible today! But encourage someone else to do so.

How do you greet people in your church? A high-five? Are you a hugger? A formal handshake? Or do you just nod your head. Here are 3 reasons why we should do something akin to a kiss in church.

“Greet all God’s people with a holy kiss.” (1 Thessalonians 5 v 26)

1. The Church should be a safe place for the power of touch. It seems Paul is wanting them to physically connect. To know the power of touch. He wanted them to have something tangible happen in their greeting. “Give each other a big hug” or if you’re a more conservative Christian, “Give each other a hearty hand-shake”. Whatever it is remember it is a holy ‘kiss’. A cursory look online at the traumatic sad stories of feral children raised with little or zero human contact and you realise the power of touch. Greet one another not only with words but make sure you all know the feeling of being loved, appreciated and wanted. The power of touch heals, restores and connects us into a wholesomeness of our well-being. Perhaps Paul was on to something which we now know is vital for our lives
2. The Church should be a place where there is no favouritism. ‘Greet all God’s people’. These are God’s people, God’s church, they are not mine and yours; they all belong to God. We must connect with them as Christ the Shepherd does. In the years to come when sheep remember the shepherds that have been responsible for their life. They will perhaps have forgotten the many words spoken and the way they were led into new things. But they will never forget they were shepherded, they were cared for, they were loved. Sheep never forget the cross. That is the justice of the Kingdom which Shepherds choose and which is Christ’s. There is no fighting just greeting. The only blood is that of Jesus.
3. The Church should demonstrate the purity of its own culture. So wherever you are reading this from in the world you might have a different way to greet one another but the point is you should keep to it. A Tibetan? You might be sticking your tongue out! An Indian? You might be kneeling and touching the feet of the other. From South East Asia? You could be touching noses. A European? Depending on the country you will be doing some air-kisses from one, two or even three times! The Apostle has a European flavour but it has to be a holy one!

Call your Church friends to pray for you

“Brothers and sisters, pray for us.” (1 Thessalonians 5 v 25)

1. Personal humility. He is not too big to ask for prayer. If the Apostle Paul asked then so should all of us.
2. The alignment of mutual exchange of Christian fellowship. It is plural, ‘brothers and sisters’ and then ‘us’ – we are all involved, this is the fellowship of God.
3. The demonstration of the value of the family of God. He uses ‘brothers and sisters’ purposely.
4. He has a desire to live with them in their situation. Even if people are thousands of miles away and even if we have never met physically, we can be with them in their situation through prayer.
5. He has a desire for God to move on him and his team. Only prayer will see God move.

There is nothing more certain. It is a guarantee. You can bank on it. There is zero doubt.

Do you ever doubt that you’re going to make it? That you will be found acceptable when you see God? Four words jumped off the page this morning!

“The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5 v 24)

He will do it. He will keep your spirit, soul and body blameless until the return of Christ. He will do it. He will sanctify your consecration. He will do it. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5:23. “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5 v 24)

When life is going really wrong do you wonder if you will ever be happy again? When the circumstances are declaring you will not survive do you believe them? Has giving yourself to the reading of the Bible been worth it? Do you wonder if you are just going to collapse under the weight of life? Is there really a way through for you? Do you wonder if you can ever love again? Are you weak? Do you feel unholy? Will you be there at the return of Christ? Are you truly saved?

Random questions. But each one has been answered in this letter and in every case the answer is He will do it.

He will give you joy in your worst day. You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.  (1:6); He will do it.

He will help you. We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition. (2:2); He will do it.

He will work His Word into your life. And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.  (2:13): He will do it.

He will enable you to stand firm. For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. (3:8); He will do it.

He will open the way. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you.  (3:11); He will do it.

He will increase the love you have and the love you give. May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.  (3:12); He will do it.

He will strengthen you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.  (3:13); He will do it.

He will sanctify you. It is God’s will that you should be sanctified (4:3); He will do it.

He will bring with Jesus those who have died on His return. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. (4:14); He will do it.

He will save you. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. (4:9); He will do it.

How do we know?

He is faithful. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it (5:24)

It is a prayer, a declaration and a desire:-

“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5 v 23)

The focus is back on the return of Christ but also the wholeness of your life when He comes.

That your spirit, the connecting God-part of you, the place where your worship of Him commences, the place which is your Holy of holies and the primary focus on your life is kept without complaint.

That your soul, your will, intellect and your emotions be submitted to your spirit so that it is kept without fault.

That your body, which receives direction from your soul, which in turn is mastered by your spirit, be kept safe and healthy and ready for a new resurrected body.

At the return of Christ may your whole life be ready. May your soul be submitted to your spirit as you live demonstrating the nail-printed body of Christ in this world. That is the prayer. That is the declaration. That is the desire.

Paul gives his closing remarks and in so doing leaves us with more pearls of truth. 

“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23

In the OT the priest would sanctify the items of the Temple so that they would be known as holy to God. It was the act of consecration. 

I went to see a building that one of our churches have purchased and then during lunch the Pastor told me the plans. They were to have a service of consecration in the building before they do anything. Now of course we all understand what is meant. Moving into the building as the start of a new chapter they wanted to set it all apart for God. The service will be an act of decision that in this ‘space’ God will be honoured, sought and experienced. 

The day before I was with another Pastor and they told me that during a period of consecration as a church people were putting things right in their lives. He gave me an example of a couple who lived together for many years deciding to get married before God and it was the outcome of the period of consecration. Everyone believed this was God moving in the couple’s lives. Indeed it was. He was sanctifying them.

So is there a difference between consecration and sanctification? If there is it would be this: Consecration is a time of reflection when we decide to set ourselves apart for God in an area of our lives. Sanctification is the act of doing so.

Consecration is what we do but sanctification is what God does in us or enables us or leads us into doing. 

And who does Paul say does the sanctifying? The God of Peace. He doesn’t come in anger. He doesn’t work in your life with a disappointment that you are just not good enough so He has to tidy up your mess. He is Peace and He comes in Peace. His presence in your life is peace.

So make the decision and seek God asking that He may sanctify you and as He comes receive His perfect peace. 

Packed into a few sentences Paul manages to give 7 treasured finds of what he believes God wants for our lives.

How should I live? It is in these 7 points.

They are straight to the point, no in-depth explanation and certainly no negotiation.

Here they all are:-

1. Rejoice always.
2. Pray continually. 

• Give thanks in all circumstances.
• Do not quench the Spirit. 
• Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all.
• Hold on to what is good.
• Reject every kind of evil, (1 Thessalonians 5 v 22)

Half-way through my tenure as a Pastor I received a letter from a member. It was this, ‘The Lord would say you should leave the church’. It didn’t give me any more instructions than that. Presumably the Lord wasn’t too bothered on what happened next so long as I left the church. He also helpfully provided the name of the person who would take my place! It was someone loved by the person giving me the prophecy. I called the member to acknowledge the letter and I was then given further instructions ‘not to shoot the messenger’. I obviously didn’t shoot the messenger but I did tear up the message because it fell within the instruction of verse 22.

Discernment is needed. There are times obviously when God does tell people to move on from a Church. But in the testing of how this was done, the context of bringing in another to replace me and because it came from a troubled member at the time I rejected it as an evil.

I have had to learn the hard way with testing and discerning God’s voice. We all do. There are times when God speaks and it is for our protection. Remember Agabus bringing God’s message about a severe famine in Acts 11? The famine happened during the reign of Emperor Claudius. It takes courage to bring such a ‘negative’ word.
Around 7 years before my message to leave the church we were in a wonderful move of God in the church. It was the last Sunday of January 2000 and I was facing a packed congregation during the evening service. They had come to see a special event from a para-church organisation led by a man who had recently joined our church with a ministry that reached out to the vulnerable of society. I had not seen the church so excited for a long time. Even the usual negative people were ultra-positive! God was with the church and leading us into a whole new season. It was all I could have hoped for. 

Then I began to receive a message from God during the last song:

“I believe the Lord is saying that this relationship is like an engagement, tonight is that engagement but it is going to get better for it is leading to a marriage.” However, that is not what the Lord gave me to say. I changed it. I had kept the singing going for longer, for I was battling with the actual word that was given me, a repeated verse of the song may give me time for clarity. If members only knew that they have sung so many extra songs because the Pastor was just trying to work out what to do!

You see the actual word was: “I believe the Lord is saying that this relationship is like a marriage, tonight is the wedding but it is not going to last for it is leading to a divorce.” But I was surely wrong. The signs all around would indicate this was God. He was moving in the church. So I changed it. I could not give such a negative word. I truly believed God wouldn’t give such a word, it must be me. I was making this up. A prophetic word is for edifying and encouraging, right? What I didn’t realise is not every message is for sharing publicly.

I got home that night and after repenting and with tears I promised God I would never change a message He gave me ever again. If He would be gracious to use me with words again I would be honourable to them. The following Sunday graciously the Spirit spoke to me again, again it wasn’t a ‘nice’ word, it was a warning but I was ready to say it exactly as I was hearing it: “The Church would have to walk past a snarling dog but we must know it is chained. The dog is only barking it will not hurt us.”

The next morning I was recording that message through the PA system of the church. I felt I needed to keep it. Though I was on my own I was soon joined by the leader of the para-church organisation. With the sound of my voice going through the speakers I became embarrassed and went to turn it off, but the leader said for me to leave it on. So there we were, me and this man in the church on our own listening to a message about a snarling dog and the Church not to be afraid. 

Within 3 months that man was taking me and the church to the Employment Tribunal. It became the worse 9 months of my life and I nearly ended my pastorate. We won the case but it was a very difficult season. We however walked past the snarling dog, there was much slander, but it was just noise and we survived. We went on to experience a further 13 years of tremendous church growth and amazing things that God did for people.

How did I get through this? How did I lead the church through this season? It was because of the original word that God gave me, even though I had changed it. The word actually wasn’t an evil to be rejected. God had told us it would end in divorce and it had. He then told us we could walk past the slander. The word prepared me and the church, we survived because of the word. I survived because of grace.
Sometimes our message from God isn’t all lovely and exciting and positive. It can be quite difficult to receive. It can look like an evil but it may be a warning. However, we must stay true to what He is telling us. Prophecy encourages, strengthens, comforts and edifies. But sometimes He wants to tell us about a famine to come.

So how do we know it is an evil to be rejected?

1. Does it sound like the Word of God? Does it sound like Jesus?
2. Do trusted ‘others’ receive it well?
3. Does it tempt me away or bring me closer to Jesus?
4. Does it love with a sacrificial love/agape?
5. Did it come true (if it contains some prediction)?

Packed into a few sentences Paul manages to give 7 treasured finds of what he believes God wants for our lives.

How should I live? It is in these 7 points.

They are straight to the point, no in-depth explanation and certainly no negotiation.

“Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good,” (1 Thessalonians 5 v 20-21)

“If you build for me then I will build for you”. That was the prophetic message that my church that I was pastoring held on to for several years. We were seeking after a bigger building and all our thoughts were on that when presented to us was a particular need in Zambia. The year was 2001 and the challenge put to us was to partner with another organisation in the UK and to buy a building for a church in Ndola, the 3^rd largest city of Zambia. But was this wise? We needed our own building so was this a distraction? In a prayer service the prophecy came. If you build for me then I will build for you. God was going to look after us as we looked after His people in Ndola. So we did. We raised the funds and we gave sacrificially despite needing our own place. But we had the prophecy you see and it was a good one! I went to open the building in Zambia holding on to ‘what is good’ knowing that God would do what He said He would do. It would be 10 years later but He did it and the prophecy came true. During those 10 years we held on and the church grew and we saw the most amazing moves of God. It was the best of times. There were moments when I thought would we ever get the building (but we persevered because we had a prophecy. It was a good one and we were holding on to it until the came when we had our grand opening of the new building for the church. God had done it just like He said He would.

And what about you?

There have been lots of prophecies that I have heard in my life so far. But Paul commands us to hold on to what is good. It is because prophecy keeps you on the right path, encourages you when struggling and gives you a cause to passionately work towards.

Hold on to the good prophecies of your church and life! Write them down, talk about them, let them shape your life, pray over them, what God said He will do He will do!

Packed into a few sentences Paul manages to give 7 treasured finds of what he believes God wants for our lives.

How should I live? It is in these 7 points.

They are straight to the point, no in-depth explanation and certainly no negotiation.

“Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all” (1 Thessalonians 5 v 20-21)

Prophecy is the speaking to people through supernatural revelation. Whereas the Prophet may well be used outside the Church, prophecy is for within the church (but can also speak to the unbeliever who is present) and comforts and edifies the whole Church. With this in mind we should be desiring this gift and excel in it for who doesn’t want to build up the church?

There are many conferences and church programmes helping us all on how to prophesy. I am certainly not going to teach anything here in this short devotion on how to prophesy. But very simply this is what I do, it is simply this: a) asking God to speak to you about the person/church; b) At the same time remind yourself of all that God has done and is doing for them; c) As your mind focuses on those things and may even speak them out let your heart connect and feel God’s heart of love for them; d) stay in that place of God’s love for them and silently again ask God what He wants to say; e) be confident that God will speak and it may start with a word or subject matter, a picture in your mind or something the person is wearing will cause an understanding not seen before

It is possible that prophecy was being held with contempt, hence the command of Paul. It is still true today. We are called to test prophesies and not despise them. Again this might help some but there are great books and resources for this. This is my measurement in no particular order: a) the opening line is not ‘This is the Lord speaking …’ but rather something like, ‘I believe the Lord is saying this’ b) is it in alignment with the Bible? c) does it build up? d) is it bringing me nearer to God? e) does it set me free or tie me up?

This does not mean prophecy is always clear at first hearing. It is sometimes carried within the mystical which needs prayer and discussion with loved ones to determine what is being said.

Satan wants us to despise the supernatural gifts of the Spirit. He wants to remove them from the Church and our lives and in some places he has managed to do so. It is true that some abuse the gifts today. There are still the doom-sayers today within the church and deception is never far from us. If he can remove faith and replace it with fear then he has won. This is the command Paul is speaking about. Let us not kill off prophecy. Whenever we meet together as Christians there is an opportunity for God to speak through the Written Word and the Spoken Word of prophecy.