This message was preached by Steve Oliver who leads Regions Beyond , an apostolic sphere that is a part of Newfrontiers Intl. This was preached at the Gather 2016 leaders Conference held in Igatpuri India For the audio link please click here
For Part 1 please click here
I hope the lesson from the Island of Crete has been helping
you. One of things I did as a younger leader and still continue to do, I take
some time on the conclusion of a conference like this. I go through my journal and
go through all we have done list all the things that God has spoken to me and wants
me to change. So please as the Bible
says you are only blessed as you do what you have been taught. Being at
this conference does not make you a great leader or wife or great husband. But as you put into practice by the spirit,
that you will grow up as a leader. So be encouraged to do that.
Paul in v9 Rebuke
those who contradict it. Protect the Word. The warning is that in the
latter days people will water down scripture to tickle the ears. This is
already happening.
V12 All Cretans are
liars!!! This is not Paul having a bad day. I think (there is not much detail
of how Titus got to Crete) after Paul’s visit there he must have become aware
of an undermining negative culture of lying. So he is really taking on this culture for the gospel to take root.
When
we went to Clarence all the people were Basotho people engage in ancestor worship.
So we had to be very strong and undermine and uproot ancestral worship. The missionaries
who had gone before had allowed dualism. Follow Jesus and follow ancestor
worship. The word syncretism or dualism. Allowing the two to coexist. So when
we started I was very strong in opposing this. I was grateful that a group of Basotho
people understood and cut it off and they began to uproot it from the culture. Be aware of cultural strongholds and
uproot. The gospel must go deep and under all the cultural strongholds.
Ch2 Paul talks about this to Titus. So how do we grow in
sound doctrine. Not everyone can go to Bible college but that’s no excuse to
have poor doctrine. So I have put a list to provoke you and seek after that.
How do you
get there?
- teaching
- study
-
consideration
- time with
God through the Spirit
- listen to
teachers
- ask lots
of questions
- settle
that you won’t know everything
- be willing
to admit you don’t know
- build friendships
you can call on
The one I want to touch on is Ch2:2.
What does he mean by older men and women? In those day life expectancy
was very low. Forty years old was a good age. Only about 2.5% of the Roman
world we known as middle class or wealthy. 97.5% were people who lived in
abject poverty. So older were people in the prime of their life.eg) Pankaj and
Tressa. SO he is not addressing men with
gray beard because there were not much around.
He talks to the next group. v6 – In your teaching show integrity, dignity and sound speech that no one
can condemn.
Then he talks to the next group the Slaves – to be submissive
and be respectful and not steal but bring glory to God
I’m not bringing a teaching for each group. But I want to talk
about growing your church through empowering every section of your church. The community of God is the most incredible
creation. I hope you see the church as a creation. Because that’s is what
Ep is talking about because it was not there and suddenly it was brought to
light. Once we were not a people but now we are a people. Born of the spirit. M
L Jones says the church is God’s new
humanity.
God’s plan for us to multiply and fill the whole earth. God’s
plan is for the church to prosper. And how we grow the church is by empowering
and releasing every part to function. One
reason it does not grow and prosper is because of the mindset of superiority and
self-importance. It’s the way in the world everybody is put in a diff category
So in 1Cor 12 we have all the gifts but he goes on to say
how they work. They work in a complete
community. Verse12 – all the members of the body are one body. If we understand
this, it will change your church.
V13 we are all baptized into one body. He then goes on to
talk about the things that don’t allow the body to prosper. The foot saying to
the hand I don’t need you or don’t belong to the body. This is a picture of society where you have someone coming to the
church from another generation/understanding of culture. They may come from
a people that were looked down and see themselves as a foot and say I don’t belong
in this, our work is that every single part of the body participates.
The world through oppression and sin has got divided but
through the Spirit God wants a community
that is one new man.eg) In Dubai we are lacking the grandfathers and fathers
amongst us because you can’t stay there after retirement. Whereas in the Uk it’s
the opposite. A lot of elderly!!!
If you want to
prosper your church empower and release every group to participate. Paul is
speaking into a culture setting which I am not really addressing. So when he is
speaking to older women. It looks like that the men were pathetic and they were
left to their own devices. Don’t use this scripture to beat up certain section
in your church. If you want to see your church prosper release the older people
to be mothers, fathers, grandfathers etc. to all in the church. Don’t make them
feel that their time is done.
Paul is
saying there are not many fathers. This is lacking in society. We want to see the
older men life restored by Christ,so that all the youngest men look to him and say
I want to be like that one day. I want to be a father like him, a husband like him.
Our life become the message.
When we planted in Clarence, there norm was that when a couple
had a baby, the responsibility was totally with the mother. The father hardly carried
the child, never changed nappies etc. We had three little boys. And I would
carry our youngest and sometimes when I was preaching he would tug on me. And slowly
the message of the gospel through our lifestyle began to change the culture.,
When we saw younger couples getting married and now the man would carried the
baby and release his wife to lead worship. So we become a model. WE need to become
effective, as each groups is effective and released, it becomes a model to
follow. Otherwise all the young people in India see are the Bollywood stars.
This is so important in India.
If you mobilize the different people groups, your church will truly
prosper. If you think you can grow your church through worship or the worship,
then you are part of only a hand full who can do that. So how do we grow the
church. We have the old, young the slaves, the older ladies and we equip them
how their lives can be a model. We say
to the youngest ones, you don’t have to be old and gray you can start now. You don’t
have to be full time; you can start now. We say to the older men, don’t retire,
look cool and help lead this community. We say to the slaves, you are as
important and you belong and you can be an elder in this church. The world out there
might exclude you but were you one to us.
So think of ways of influencing all these groups. One of the
ways those of you who preach can do it is to choose messages that empower and release. Also celebrate the different groups i.e. honor
and give importance to.
How do you mobilise
the different age groups for the church to prosper;
- · Teach a good understanding of the body
- · Make sure every group feels equally important – even the slaves
- · Let your leadership team model what you want to see in the wholechurch
- · Find key ‘initiators’ in each group to inspire & gather
- · Let each group express itself on it’s own and within the body
- · Give each group ‘airtime’ – celebrate achievements
- · Make them missional
- · Empower everyone to be a disciple/mentor
- · Give them responsibilities
When I was preparing I understood what Paul was doing because
he was undermining what was so wrong. The culture was terrible where the men
would throw off all restraint. That’s why he says be sober minded, self-controlled.
How do we do that? By the Spirit. I am a new creation. Grace teaches me to say
no to ungodliness. To be self-controlled is to be full of the Spirit. When the
flesh wants to be stupid, the Spirit draws us back within the line.
Pg 3Make them missional
Ch2:2 Empower every
group to be preachers of the gospel. When we came to Dubai there was a
small group of ladies that met mid-week. But that group had a lot of strive and
mistrust. Heather slowly began to talk about being there for one another
success and got them to pray, pray, pray. Slowly this group grew to 25 ladies
because the atmosphere in the group had changed. This group then went on to
become the most effect in attracting families to the church. We realized that
there were many men in church who had top executive positions in their
companies and their wives did not work. They had nothing to do. Through this
group they found acceptance and a home and they brought their husbands into
gateway and their wallets. I was an effective pickpocket for the gospel!!! I
could mobilize their wealth for the gospel. This group empowered released,
celebrated to be effective.
This is a discovery I made. Ch3:1 Remind
them to be submissive to the ruler and authorities. Be ready for every good
work. How do you feel about your government? In my nation we have become
experts at pulling down our leaders also because they have failed horribly. But
that is no excuse.
The Bible tells us
that God appoints rulers of nations.
Paul saw this happening as well. Roman politic was all about
greed, power and influence. IT had nothing to do with the people. They did not
care about the people. It was about themselves. Paul says be submissive to those
who only think about themselves and only want power. Incredible!!!! I think I found the answer.
Be submissive to your
rulers and authorities, PM. Be obedient to them. Be ready for many good works because they are likely not to succeed. That
is why Christ has prepared church to be in readiness to be the answer through
good works. They can’t do it. But the church can do it because we can do it. Be
ready for every good work.
In 365 AD there was a Roman Caesar. It is recorded that the
stood up in the senate and said “ I am
sick to death of these pious Galileans because they are turning the ton upside down because they not only care for their own poor but for
ours as well” The church was so effective. Incredible!! When the Romans
came back from campaigns all wounded the only are there was for them was the church.
Eventually the Roman empire became Christian.
Because Titus and the leaders taught the people to be submissive and serve.
There is so much need.
There is much work in England where now no one wants to be PM. Suddenly the structure
of UK society is being showing up for
what is it post WWII. Its time of revival. The church spends billions of pounds
to serving the poor. A portion of the tithes are used for this. In Parliament
its being recognized that they cannot do without the church.
You may not like your PM but be submissive and obedient and
be ready with every good work because there will be many.
How do we get ready with
good works ?
- You will be needed to fill the gaps
- the church will be provided the gifts for their context..
“I will build my church”
- when faced with a need, only respond when the ‘grace gift’
has been provided
- if it’s not there, pray for it
( to be continued ... Part 3)
