This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church Camp on February 17th 2024 by Nigel Pereira. For the audio & video please click here. For the worship please click here. ENLARGE – PART 1
It was 1982 when I was at a house group. I wasn’t saved but
was just being exposed to the Gospel. I was very intrigued by who Jesus was and
the people of God. God was doing something inside me, and I enjoyed the house
groups. So, I kept attending it. I was seeking God but I was very comfortable till
one day a leader took me out and asked me what I thought about Jesus. He asked
me if I wanted to give my life to Jesus. Outside I said “Yes”, but inside, I
said, “I’m not coming back here again.” I ran away for 6 months. I bought a
Bible and started digging into it during those 6 months. As I read, the Word
started speaking to me. It felt as if Jesus was leaping out of the pages and
talking to me. I would weep everyday as I read through the Bible. After 6
months, I knew I had to go back to the church. As I came back for the Sunday meeting.
I saw that same leader who met me and asked what happened to me. Later I
realized that all of them were praying for me during those 6 months. God works
through prayers. On 6th June 1983, I gave my life to Christ. Since
then I’ve been with the same church in New Frontiers. I knew if I ever walked away
from you, the problem is me but not someone else. So I want to say when Jesus
comes through, we are captivated by him and nothing can stop us from walking
with Him.
As we sang this song which says, “He’s calling sons and
daughters back to Him”, I was stirred and I believe, Jesus is going to restore
His church in an amazing way. I’m looking at 2024 as a year where in the church
of Jesus is going to be stirred by who we are and what we can do, who He sees us
as.
During these 2 days, let us get a glimpse of who He is and
who we are. As Hazel brought that word on guilt, let us get rid off the shame
and guilt. We are free. Jesus loves us. He understands our failures,
temptations and when we fall. Even when Peter denied Jesus, He didn’t come back
and say that Peter would not be an apostle anymore. Instead, He said, “Go tell
Peter and my brothers…” That’s how He sees the church.
Psalm 84:10 - Better
is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere;
One moment with God is enough for us. In these 2
days, come to God.
Isaiah
54:1-5 - “Sing, barren woman, you who
never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy, you
who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband,” says
the Lord.
2 “Enlarge
the place of your tent, stretch your tent
curtains wide,
do
not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
3 For
you will spread out to the right and to the left;
your
descendants will dispossess nations
and
settle in their desolate cities.
4 “Do not be
afraid; you will not be put to shame.
Do
not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You
will forget the shame of your youth
and
remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
5 For
your Maker is your husband—
the Lord Almighty
is his name—
the
Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
he
is called the God of all the earth.
I want us to capture this spirit of Isaiah speaking to Israel
in captivity for 70 years. Verse 7 says, God abandoned for a brief moment. That’s
what they felt.
1.
Sing, barren woman
Isaiah says, “Sing, O barren
woman”. He also says, “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent
curtains wide, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.”
King Solomon time was glorious as
people across the world would come down to that kingdom. But now, Israelites
were uprooted from the God given land and put on a foreign land as captives.
What would be their mindset? – defeated, enslaved, dominated, hopelessness and
questions about God’s promises. Into this, the prophet is saying, “Sing”. It
sounds strange as what’s there to sing about? God wants us to have a sense and
understanding of who we are and who he is. It looked like God was punishing
them in Babylon. He tells them to sing as their maker is their husband. Even
though he was punishing them, He loves them. He cannot separate himself from
them. He says “more are your children” – churches across the globe. Pune church
must understand that they are a part of God’s church.
Isaiah 54:6 - The Lord will call you back
God can never let go of us. He’s bringing back
everyone. We must sing at all times. Even when we don’t understand things or
when things don’t go according to the plan, we must sing.
He wants us to see that something is written over
us. As His people. We have a purpose. A barren woman is someone who can’t have
fruitfulness. God says, “More are the children of a desolate woman that the one
who’s fruitful”. He also says, “Spread out to right and left”
We must sing because there’s fruitfulness written
over us. We are a fruitful people. Our DNA is fruitfulness. He says, “You will
forget the shame of your youth”. What was their youth? 400 years of slavery was
their youth. When they were formed, they were in slavery. God says they would
forget that shame and widowhood. Shame is the slavery they were in and
widowhood is the captivity in Babylon.
Can we forget what we had gone through personally
and as a church? This is the truth. We are going to smile and laugh because we’re
going to be fruitful.
Are you in a hardship? Start singing. Do you have
a problem with your children? Start singing. Because it is not going to be
there permanently.
As a church you may go through a time of
desolation. But something is coming. His fruitfulness. Because the church will
always recover lost ground and gain even more.
God has got a church, not just leaders. Let us
catch this sense of churches being caught in this understanding of fruitfulness.
In Regions Beyond, there was a prophetic word about low hanging fruit. If we
can prophetically for each one of us, our prayer life will change. There’s no
struggle. We will receive the fruit without struggling for it.
2.
Enlarge the place of your tent:
Let us look at the background. Israel was in
captivity and God wants them to enlarge. As a church, we may in a place where nothing
seems to behappened. But we must enlarge – start dreaming, start thinking,
start praying, get something into your spirit.
God’s plan for us is to be fruitful. Every church
should be thinking about this. We come to church not just to survive and to
have friends who would comfort us. God wants to change you, transform you and
use you to transform your city, village and a nation.
Praise God, it is not because of what we are. It
is because of what He is. We all know what we are when we are all alone. We
know what we do in the quiet place. And because of that we know that God shouldn’t
be using us. But that’s okay. God wants to use you anyway.
Matthew 28:19-20 - Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I
have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of
the age.”
He’s not asking us to stay
and sort out things. No, he’s not saying stay and resolve issues with your wife
or husband. He’s saying, “Go”. When we go, things get sorted out. That’s one of
the principles I follow. Even if people have issues, I pick people and tell
them to go. But I tell them to change in those particular areas.
Jesus’ command for the
church is to be fruitfulness by going, not to one place but to all nations.
The command for fruitfulness
is “Go”. The promise is that God will be with you.
How do we enlarge when
there are bottlenecks and no resources? God’s promise is that He will be with
you as we step out.
Go! God provides. God
shows. That’s faith.
Matthew
16:18 - And I tell you that you are Peter,[b] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[c] will not overcome it.
God says I’m with you and when you go, I will break
open the gates of hell. I will give you new ground and you will possess it.
Jesus had already set an example. He didn’t stick
to one place. He went to different places. He was sowing something and moving
on. We got to be on the go. Wherever he went, he healed the sick and forgave
sinners. He was touching one person at a time and that one person brings the
whole village.
Acts 2:46-47 - Every day they
continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in
their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all
the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were
being saved.
The early church was not
static. Their homes were centres for mission and everyday, people were saved
and added to the church.
Acts 12:24 - But the
word of God continued to spread and flourish.
The early church caught something – Enlarge.
Look at 2024 afresh and ask God, “How can I
enlarge personally, as a family and as a church?”
God is going to use some of you as leaders and others as faithful men and women as the strong core of the church who would stay with the church – a core of 30 to 40 people who would stay but not go to other places for better opportunities.
Vision cant be just about numbers but quality is necessary too. It is about values.
3.
Stretch your tent curtains wide
When you see a tent being stretched, you see that
every part of that tent is being stretched wide. When Israel was captured, the
tent was a stone construction. Tent was only in the wilderness. Tents are
stretchable. Solomon’s temple was fixed. Isaiah was referring to the tent
because it meant growth and expand. Stretch is not just for the leaders but for
every part of the church – every person who is a part of the church.
Acts 2:42-47 - 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
It's not just about what
they did, it’s about their hearts from where they could do all these things. We
find this in verse 42 – devoted themselves.
If were going to enlarge,
there’s a quality that we need. That is “Devotion”. The stretchingSe job, family, etc. It is not about getting saved and going to heaven. The
stretching has to be with a zeal. The early church was full of zeal and passion
which was committed. The commitment was to apostles teaching, breaking bread,
eating together, sharing etc. The early church had people who are devoted. We
need people who are here to be together. Jesus called His disciples to be with
Him and then He sent them out.
As a leader I’m not looking
for people with talents. I’m looing for people whose hearts are here with the
church and with me.
If you love Jesus, you will
be like His disciples who stuck with Him. When we are stuck with the church,
there is a devotion.
The early church met in
homes which means everyone’s church was open. Everyone was serving. They waited
on tables. They were ready to fully serve.
It is not just about being
a part of good church, having a good worship and what the church offers you. God
is looking for your devotion.
Let us look at Jonathan and
his armour bearer. Everyone was discouraged. Even King Saul was discouraged and
sitting under the pomegranate tree. Others were hiding in the caves. There were
only 2 weapons, one was with Saul and the other was with Jonathan. Philistines
were all over the place. At that time, unless God said, “Go” nobody would go. Jonathan
says, “Perhaps, God is with me”. He’s got that fruit hanging over him. He got
that. The armour bearer, at the risk of his life says, “Im heart and soul with
you. Do what’s in your heart.”
Now, we understand the
word, devotion.
We saying, “God, I’m for you.”, is church membership.
How many of you want to see
a big vision for Pune? God is saying, “Can I get your devotion?”
Get into who you really
are. You are going to see things which you’ve never seen before.
God wants a phenomenal and
radical people whom he’s pulling out of culture and catching us up into city
mission, global mission, worldwide mission.
When Jesus said “It is
finished” on the cross, it was not about the Israelites. It was about everyone,
the new Israel.
The apostles were given the
task to unlock the church, showing who you really are. You are no longer
slaves. We are no longer slaves. We are heirs of God, co-heirs of Christ. We
have inherited promise of fruitfulness.
2 Corinthians
5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!
We always take it personally for our own self.
But no, it is for the church, a whole new church. The apostles teaching has
captivated the people into this glorious vision.
Very often the world looks at church as soft and
timid. We are not a timid people. We are the tough and robust people of God.
The Kingdom of God is forcefully advancing and forceful men lay hold of it.
Can we be a people of God who are devoted?
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