1 Samuel Overview Part 5 - The Word Movement (II)

Our lives were chosen, blessedly called to be the present Israel. God fixed the region and age for us to be born on earth, be born again, sanctified to accomplish the 4 gospelizations. Our lives are being called. This means that no matter how my family situation is, the family members including my wife are called. My job is blessedly called and there is an eternal plan in it. Our parents, who may have continually nagged at us, and the friends around us, are all called. God is surely with us, and He is always with us in all the things we meet, touch and do. If so, everything of mine - from my job, time, and the things that I as an honorable person have - bears the reasons of God.

If we see this, we would be able to restore our prayer. And we will get the perfect will of God through prayers, and upon submission, we are walking with God. Our belief is very practical - heard, believed, and thus submitted. It is not about being zealous or committed or we will surely go into idol worship. He has fixed everything, our crown, the things that will come to blessings and curses, and then given birth to us. Israel was so blessed, so that God gave them the tabernacle, yet they did not see Ebenezer God. Therefore they went into zealousness and wanted to do something for God. Idol worship will not allow us to see God. Idol worship is not about loving other things more than God or loving children more than the meetings. But idol worship is about not being able to see God and know His will, Emmanuel and providence, and therefore man will definitely try to be zealous. This is the problem of the current era. How much do our lives breathe and communicate with God? How much does our time and skills at our work are joined up together with God? If we are separated from God, this is called death. If we are blessed, our appearance, thoughts, work should match that of our blessedness.

Our church is not doing evangelism movement. If Emmanuel movement has not been restored, evangelism movement will make us dry, and cause conflicts among our contacts. However, if Emmanuel movement has been restored, evangelism movement is naturally accomplished. E.g. for our job, if we restore Emmanuel and see the reason of God for every position and role in the company, we will naturally testify passively but naturally. If we restore Emmanuel in bringing up our children, people can see how God brings them up. Ebenezer means that God is in our brains, etc to help us. If we realize, there is only one thing that should remain, which is to restore each and every one of our conditions. People asked me how to shepherd, as there are a thousand and one situations. But if we have restored Emmanuel, we will know how to shepherd. Every day, we will just need to accumulate how God is evident with us. Through the maid I employed, or the children I bring up, or the administrative role or engineering work in our company, I can talk about God. Let us accumulate this wisdom every day. This is the Mizpah Movement.

Therefore, I urge our coworkers, to walk with God from Sunday till Saturday, from morning till night.

Mizpah’s restoration movement <7:3-17>

1. The initial condition OR the Starting point: Turn-to-God movement (Restore)

Meet God -> Converse with God (Perfect will) -> Walk with (Evidence)

If I meet Wengang today, I will surely converse with him. If I meet him outside, I surely will ask him how Liwen is, and how his deacon father is. If I meet Patrick, I will surely ask about his wife, mother, according to his conditions. Therefore, if we meet God and have conversed with Him, we will surely get His perfect will. This is so easy. Yet, from the era of Adam till now, there is no God in everyone’s mind. No one will first seek His will to know how to start to live. This is about turning to God. He must start to know the correct Trinity God.

Trinity God

Do not go about explaining Trinity like how water exists in 3 different states but yet is one. God must be known by understanding His will. If we understand Trinity correctly, wherever we go and the words we speaks, God goes and speaks with him. God does not want to create big fires and earthquakes. Those who meet God will enjoy Him and the evidence and will surely be joyful.

1) Father God

- Creator of Everything in the Universe

The things that are too small or too big in the world are invisible to us. But whatever we see, be it nature, cars, buildings, we know that God is alive. When we see the stars, God speaks to us His promise (Abraham).

- Love

- Gave birth to us

Adrienne, what is the evidence that God has given birth to us? Why do you attend Discipleship training? This is the evidence.

- Healed me

Though I still have sorrows, I find that my sorrows have reduced even when more challenges come.

- Abundant

Tell us to be overflowing in needs. My aunt called my wife and I over this week over to her place and told us that she had decided to buy insurance for our children and for us. When she told me that practicality is needed besides faith, I told her that everything, including reality/practicality is inside faith. Faith is everything! Finally when she still did not accept my words but insisted on giving this to us, I told her that I would think about it. Actually I give thanks to God. Even when I am not complete, God zealously loves my family and I. The sorrows that come to us are because of our own spiritual problems. Since I am passing the wisdom of 36 lessons to her, a missionary, I must tell her that the gospel is practical. If the gospel cannot be lived out, who will believe?

- Omnipotent

No matter how weak my congregation is or is not listening, I just need to preach what the Lord wants me to. If brothers and sisters are not in hunger, I can just end the sermon short. We just need to follow God. We Christians must be strong and courageous. We serve not by our own strength, but by meeting God’s Personality.

2) Christ (God’s begotten Son)

Whatever I do, I do it by “wearing” God upon my whole life. This is called Jesus Christ. He is the perfect model of God. The entire world, history, value and life views He has are so clear. Christ embodies the perfect views of God. Will Jesus get a little bit of hurt when someone says something? Faith comes when we can see the picture of faith. Perhaps brothers can accept this easier? However, when I read the bible, though Christ is male, the praises he heaped up most are from females. Mary Magdalene was such a one who anointed Him and who was chosen to be met with Jesus after His resurrection. What kind of thoughts, judgment we have will heap praises from Jesus? If we think about this, we will immediately receive power.

(i) Prophet (Spread perfect will)

Christ spreads and lives out the perfect will. Therefore He is the foundation for us to seek His perfect will. Through Him, we will know how to walk.

(ii) Priest (Love, mercy)

Christ is the image where I understand and acquire God’s love and mercy. Do not look at our weaknesses. When Jesus was baptized, God said that He was God’s beloved. We are God’s beloveds, too. We feel that we are not because our actions are not as perfect as Christ’s. Does God love us because of our actions? God does not accept our weakness/sins, but He accepts us.

(iii) King (Power)

When Jesus gives His commands, Satan leaves. When the demon-possessed man met Jesus, he shrieked, “I know that you are the anointed Holy One of God.” We must live out His power and joy.

Therefore, understand Christ’s attributes:

- Head (Submit)

He is our head, therefore we submit to Him.

- Body (Test and seek)

We are His body, therefore, we test and seek His perfect will.

- Bridegroom (Only)

If Christ is not our only Bridegroom, we will appear ugly. Pettiness and frustrations will result when we are not able to go to some places or get something we want. When is the bride pretty? She is pretty only when she is pulled towards her Husband-to-be.

Eldest Brother (Example)

Christ is our Eldest Brother, therefore His life was the first living example for us to admire and follow.

3) Holy Spirit (Emmanuel) Þ “Heart”

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth (Truth = Father, Son). I find that Holy Spirit is the “heart”. James 4:8 - When we have the heart, or the Holy Spirit, God will come near to us. Mt 5:3-12 - When we are pure in heart, have a hungering heart, are gentle in heart and humble in our heart for the truth, the Holy Spirit will come in our lives.

Conviction, Wisdom (Filling), Anointing

If you are filled, Penang, the mission field we pray for, will be changed, and the family you go to will be blessed.

* Word -> perfect will -> follow -> different

Therefore, let us only preserve our hearts in desiring to listen and see His Truth. If our day is busy, let our hearts not go into busyness. If Jesus enters into such a busy day, what will He do? He will do more prayers so that He will know God’s will. This is the priority of the Christian living. We must know our first and second priorities. E.g. One busy day, I needed to go to the NTUC to shop, and the queue at the cashier was very long. I almost got frustrated but I heard, “If it is Jesus, what will He do?” When I see a lot of frustrated people beside me, I began to pray. I learn a lot of wisdom from this and I submitted. Sometimes when I am busy with my children and my heart gets frustrated, I hear the Lord telling me, “If you are so busy, just cancel that meeting!”

(1) Get rid of idols, turn to Jehovah (repentance movement)

However, before I cancel the meeting God will ask me, “Is there anytime you have missed a meeting because of busyness?” No! Therefore, I discover how deep my spiritual problem is by not being able to manage myself with His already revealed word! One day, I really discover that God is a good and consistent God who rewards those who seeks Him and prays to Him. In the past, I think that He is a fearful God and He has no standards on rewarding or taking away from our prayers. The same strength and answer will come. If you have not formatted up, you will use your feelings and desire to meet Him. Therefore, we inevitably find that there are times He gives and times when He does not.

(2) Restore the sacrifice of blood / burnt offering (die and resurrect)

In the past, I only pray to God when I meet problems. Such emergency prayers mean one has not met God. If you do not continually maintain the heart in meeting God and knowing His perfect will, you will lose the spiritual power. We pray not to solve problems. Why do we pray? We pray to meet God. This is because we will lose the battle quickly and live in the flesh. We must direct ourselves to meet the Trinity God. We must not try to solve our problems as they come and go. If we meet Him, everything will be solved. Therefore I can be joyful immediately and get power. In this church of 40 people who need mental healing , I hear news of accusations every day (accusations to the pastor, among brothers/sisters, etc). There are a lot of small churches that eventually closed down. It is not because of the weakness of the church, but that the pastor has not met God.

2. Sacrifice (Burnt offering) = prayer

1) “I died” <Gal 2:20>

Who am I? I am not who I think I am, or someone without direction or identity. The child of God is the most complete manifestation of God. Start your life by “My Father in heaven”. I see that a lot of Christians bring their inferiority and failures to meet God. If you cannot be what God sees you, the words of the bible, which shall actually bring God’s comfort, will be read as a curse or a pressure. Being unable to use God’s eyes to see ourselves is a spiritual problem such that we have not died yet! Therefore you are sorrowful. Your job is not yours but God’s. If I receive a setback, I immediately receive the power of God by dying, “Lord, what I have is Yours”. I have died but my identity lives. However, I also do not mean that I am weak, therefore my weakness must die first before I can converse with God (e.g. I must not be selfish and not love money before meeting God). Who are you? You are a child of God. Therefore, by using your identity as a child of God, approach Him with such and such kinds of weaknesses. What God accepted is you! If you meet Him, you will then meet the One who is unlimited. God does not want to destroy everything of yours so that you can meet Him. If we have not “died”, the following steps of progression cannot be understood. Christian life is not about being zealous.

2) Confirm Emmanuel (Blessings that have already arrived on me)

God spoke to Joshua, “The land has been given to you, the enemies has already been conquered.” We use the promise (Emmanuel) to see all things. When I see my bank account with promise, I rejoice. The promise says that what I have is already enough! When you think of your job, are you joyful? Is it because of a great salary? No, it is because this job is what God provided for me.

Purpose

Think about how God has provided you with your job, family, and small group to accomplish His gospelization. E.g. If you, Guorong, thinks how God will use me in Venture to gospelize, then you have accorded yourself to this very purpose. If we cannot see, we will be in sufferings. When I restore physical strength, I know God has answered me because He has given me the strength. Therefore, I know the day is going to be fulfilling. We must join together like this. If we are almost dead like a dead fish walking around, realize this and stop everything, as this is not right. At that very moment see that God is with us and in our every condition every time.

Have you, Zhiming, one day thought of your weekly schedule (in the following order of Sunday to attend service, Monday and Tuesday to do transcripts, Wed to prepare small group meeting, Thursday to lead small group meeting and Friday to attend Discipleship Training, and Saturday to attend Prayer Meeting) and exclaimed, “Oh Lord, thank You for letting me walk more and more in the steps towards accomplishing World Gospelization…”? If not, serving is a type of zealousness and not because of God’s reason. Is it just because Qiufen cannot lead her small group that you, Huijun, must lead the group? If we see that God’s grace has fallen upon us, and I get anointing through serving which I have not seen in the past, it is God calling us. If we are not confirming Emmanuel, we are initiating service ourselves. Do we also see our office work as a blessed process in accomplishing the 4 gospelizations of God? In this small church I am leading, I see that God has placed me here so that I can shepherd and be a deacon to all churches in the whole region of Singapore and Malaysia. Patrick, have you seen that you have already received God’s blessings through our job which continually trains you for the appropriate skills? If not, we will feel that we love God more than God loves us. This is wrong. God loves us more. The Mizpah Movement is the movement of confirmation.

3) Test and seek: test and seek and thus RSYRJG

If there is one calling us, there is surely something for us to follow. We must test and seek what to think, judge and do. There is a God’s reason for us to be a husband, worker and deacon. This is called prayer when we test and seek, and thus RSYRJG (Glorify God, Benefit People, and Build Kingdom with Chinese pinyin initials).

God’s purpose (4G) -> All things, Living (Perfect Will) -> Individual, family, career (know purpose, perfect will, wisdom), Serving (RSYRJG)

The translation and transcript ministries that we serve God in must be done by testing and seeking. Test and seek from God’s purpose of four gospelizations and expand from there.

(i) Test and seek and thus pray/intercede

If we have problems and, sorrow, or have no anointing/gifts in serving, we must pray. When I am jogging or bathing, I will think about what my wife or brothers/sisters told me or emailed me. I am very serious in testing and seeking His will. When I lead small groups, I do not only talk a lot so that the small group members also talk a lot, and I reply in giving answers. It does not end with us going home, going to sleep and switching off. But after you hear the feedback from small group members, this must become the prayer topics to test and seek. For Huijun’s small group, “How come Adrienne talked about this, and Huiyan talked about that in my small group?” When you test, seek, and discover His reason, you will then be able to have messages for them. If not, although you may leading small groups for many years, the small group will not grow. “Hey, why does this mother have such a view on her children’s responses?” Through my prayers, I will surely find the reason that she has not seen. Then I can talk to her when I meet her that I prayed for and give answers. Therefore, I immediately can educate her on how to use God’s promise to see her children. I find that the group who base their testing and seeking on the shared word will move on in the fulfillment of the 4 gospelizations. Prayers must go through training, or else we will not be able to give very practical answers to our small groups. We must see the big picture to shepherd. This is called shepherding.

(ii) Test and seek and thus central to church to live

We must test and seek so that we understand the reason to attend Sunday service, small groups, discipleships training and prayer meeting. We must enjoy fulfillments. If you have not enjoyed fulfillments, you will not enjoy meetings and the meetings only become a knowledge that puffs up. We may have learnt 36 lessons but until we see fulfillments, we will not enjoy it. We hear very often about the four gospelizations and will only think, “OK, I will try my best.” This is only knowledge, and we will sacrifice meetings for sure when circumstances have it such that we have to choose between meetings and convenience. E.g. I “commanded” Liwen to come for small group and she joined reluctantly to give face to the pastor. Once, she did not feel like attending, yet when she came, she saw the filling of the Spirit at the meeting, the love within the small group, and from that day on, I never asked her to come and she comes naturally out of her own will. She enjoyed fulfillments and thus attends the small group meeting. Patrick and Yuying’s small group is mobile. When Yuying saw fulfillments, she asked whether there will be a small group meeting. If people test, seek and see the reason, they will squeeze time out for small group meetings.

(iii) Test and seek and thus testify <Acts 1:8>

Philistines retreated and Israel regained her territory (overcoming victory)

Your own ends will be expanded. When Israel tested and sought God in the Mizpah Movement, Israel revived and Philistines were interrupted. Therefore Israel went on and attacked them.

Romans 12:1-2 Living Sacrifice

If God tells you to be in such a timetable, and thus tells you to go to work, we just serve this way every day. This is called being a living sacrifice. I find that Christians are always missing the point. When they should be serving, they go to prayers, and vice versa. When they should bless their families, they go to meetings and vice versa. Therefore a lot of people only serve out of their own zealousness. As a result, conflicts in their jobs and family will come.

3. Mizpah Movement is the evangelism movement (Intercession and testimony)

Why have I met Pastor Xueling and opened up this ministry? One day, June called me and told about how Pastor Keng and Pastor Swat wanted to receive the 36 lessons. I am not great, but one day, this great thing descended upon me. This is the very likeness of Boaz falling upon Ruth and her mother-in-law. I just discovered the perfect will of God, came near to them, and joined together to get them as my coworkers.

Intercession - Great Priest

The kind of life you have will determine how much you will greatly bless your family, etc. Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me more than these?” It is not our conditions that limit us, but whether we love God and the people God has entrusted to us, more than our conditions.

Why can we not evangelize? It is not because you are not zealous, not loving God, or without skill. You cannot evangelize because you still have problems of inferiority, etc, and such things are pulling you back. Some people have received failures that they fell into a setback. I similarly receive setbacks easily. But one day, the spirit of turning-around came to me. “Even such a blessed one like me will be affected, what about others who are more weak than me and will be even more affected?” Some people met with problems and fell. There are some people who met with problems yet have mercy on people and become evangelists. The great priest continually sees and helps the weaker ones. How can a great priest be weaker if he sees someone who is better? Why will Saul be jealous?

Emmanuel movement will bring about evangelism movement. Those who have received this will want to bless people, and even hope that others will get even more than what they have. This is like the priests, who can manage their own lives, so that they let people cross the river Jordan before crossing the river themselves. I want you all to get this greatest heart. Why am I courageous to the point that I am able to bless people, and even look forward to bless the pastor located at our 4^th floor in this same building? If I see someone who is better than me through blessings, I rejoice for him. Being unable to evangelize means that you have not received the heart of the great priest.

4. Disciples (Raise) - Fixed time, place

Restore decrees, nation safe and peaceful (definite evidence)

Saul and David should have appeared in the discipleship training during the time when the nation was safe and peaceful. David actually sinned against all the 10 commandments and committed more sins than Saul. Why did God choose David in the end? This was because David had the heart after God. The most important thing that God looks at is prayer, which was the very thing that Saul looked with little importance. Like many pastors, they only spread the Word, but when it comes to prayers, they look at it with little importance. Among the 150 psalms, 80 were written by David, and this shows that he prayed to live.

3 years together

We all have changed in the time we are together. We must all receive fulfillments. Let us see what fulfillments God will give to us by continuing to be together for 3 years. Our life must enter into such a state.

Taken from Discipleship Training, 26^th January 2007, 1 Samuel Overview Part 5.