Wednesday, October 19, 2016

SHARPEN 2016 - Working in out in teams | Edgar Nevis

This message was preached at the RegionsBeyond India Leadership conference 2016.
This message was preached by Edgar Nevis who leads Yeshu Krist Masiha Mandali in Nasik.

Redefining the way we do things now. We came out of the world of evil and corrupt people that we were first. God is calling us back into that world. But we are different. We are going to change the world.
The making of Samuel- Samuel grew up in the temple. He had no say in the matter. His mother put him in the temple.

Q. How did that happen?
1 Sam 1- Hannah was a wife of this priest. Hannah was not getting pregnant and was made fun of and tormented by the other wife.
It seems almost like God put her through all of that so that she would offer her child to the temple. The priest loved Hannah more. So the other wife did not like it. Her response to a troubled situation was to torment another one. Whereas, Hannah’s response was to go to the Lord. In our troubled situation, we went to God. We are all sitting here because we went to God in our troubled situation.

I’ve always been amazed at Jesus. He is the Lord of lords and King of kings. I speak about his supremacy as written in Colossians 1. And we hear Jesus say, I don’t do anything that I don’t see the father doing. In all his magnificence, he still humbles himself.

Q. Who does Jesus always compare us with? How holy are we supposed to be? Pankaj or Gary...?
We are to be as holy as He is holy.
Q. How can we be compared with him?
Be as loving as he is loving. The standard he has for us is so high.
In my walk with God, I’ve gone through some difficult times. If you are dead you have  no requirements. You live for Jesus. In every step of the day, I am living for Jesus. It doesn’t matter how they treat me. I was going to go to hell anyway, but now I’m going to heaven.

Jesus has joined me into a body. Eph 4:16. As God has saved me and joined me into this body, and I am held together by these ligaments. We don’t have much choice to say, I don’t want to be joined. When I got married to Isabel- I fought to marry her. But soon, we found it difficult to adjust with one another. Before we got married, we had amazing chemistry! But once we got married, we were fighting so much!!

When I asked my pastor, he said there is no feelings  in love anymore. I thought he was mad, but I said there’s no harm in trying. It worked!! We learned to love each other. God showed me this- there has to be love that joins us together. She is so different from me and God showed me to enjoy that difference.

In the body of Christ, we are different. The hand and foot are different, the requirements, needs, etc are different. We are joined together by ligaments. The head gives instructions to the body. The head decides what the body is going to do. We have to learn to respect one another. It was hard learning to respect Isabel’s gifts. I never wanted to be a pastor. And then I’m glad I have Isabel as my wife.

Do you choose your kids?  You have to learn your kid. Understand what they are- what is my role?
I learnt to understand this body parts illustration through my personal experience. In Indian culture, where women are not treated with respect, we need to learn that our wives have real wisdom to give us. Jesus was an example of submission.
I was abused by leaders, but I saw Him set it right. I don’t have to be afraid of submission.

When we decide to be in an unbreakable fellowship with one another- we will obey his commands! Love one another. It starts with our own wives. Just work at it. We have our differences, but we’ve learnt to work it out. We are supposed to be the light of the world. We are going to show a different culture to the world.

Q. Do we feel a permanent bond with people in your team?
 Change takes time. But we are going to allow for God to use us to bring about changes. We are joined together.



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