Today I want to share with you some past, present and future issues.
1. We Need to Claim Back the Promises of God for This Church.
Numbers 23:19: God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfil?
One of the things a pastor does when they inherit a church is to seek out the promises of the past. Yet there didn’t seem to be any! There obviously are but none were given to me. It has recently emerged that God has some unfinished business here.
On my first Sunday here I brought the following word:
I saw big old wooden gates with a heavy beam. I was oiling the hinges and the other pastors came to help. People were looking and thinking, “What are they doing?”
Then I started to dust of the beam because there was writing carved on it and dust os thick that it had filled it. The word written was limitations. It was a strange word but the Lord told me there was a time in the past that what was possible in the natural took second place to what was possible in the power of the Spirit.
This beam caused a bit of a problem but eventually the ministry team and board (Oversight Team) all came an put their shoulders to the beam. it took all our strength to lift it. As we lifted it the first few inches it creaked and cracked and crumbled to dust.
Then my perspective changed. It bizarrely appeared the gates were in the roof of the church and the gate was a direct portal to heaven that had been closed.
I believe the hinges represent: faith, Pentecost (the things of the Spirit), love and unity.
Recently I sent a word form Spain during our prayer week and it was clear that something was promised to the church 30 years or so ago and had yet to be realised, that those who were youth then still had outstanding promises over their lives. This tells me that God is not finished with something that He began before.
After we came home ( and after I had preached about personal finances) I was given the following word from someone that was brought 25 years ago by Pastor Eric. I am not saying that because it was Eric that this is of God, I am saying that there is some unfinished business. Wh enI read this I must reiterate that I had no knowledge of this until after prayer week and after I spoke about money:
19th February 1989, morning service, Pastor Eric Hutchinson.
As I sought the Lord concerning what I should share with you today, I felt that the Lord was laying something upon my heart, something specific, a message about 100 weeks.
The Lord said to me that He was going to pour out an anointing upon you as a people that would be an anointing of 100 weeks. During that time the Lord would do things that He has never done before among His people.
Firstly, and it may seem strange that the Lord should start at that point, but He was going to bless you financially. That may be good news to you who are finding things difficult. The Lord would say to you today that the reason He is going to bless you financially is that He is going to make you a steward of the things of God. For God has a desire to release within you ministries and these ministries will be geared by your stewardship. For the Lord is going to raise up ministries among you that He wants to be financed and to be blessed and to be secure.
Into the lives of those who are elderly, who have come before the Lord and have said that their time is finished, the Lord is saying that this 100 weeks is going to be a time for you where you will know that your life is not finished, but in fact God has got a specific ministry for you to carry out. That ministry will be that you feed spiritually those that are young. The young will not despise the old and the old will feed the young, for they will pass onto them things that they have learned, and things that they have forgotten, and the Holy Spirit will bring back to their memory those things they must pass on. God is going to break down the barriers that exist between old and young so that the teaching can be received.
The Lord is going to bless the young people in a way that He is going to give to them a manifestation that they have never known before. They are going to come to a place where they will lay hands upon the sick, not just the leadership and not just the people who usually do, but the young people are going to lay hands on the sick and the sick will recover. It will frighten the young people when they suddenly realise God has fulfilled His word, but it is a sign to them that they must keep their lives in order.
The Lord has said to me that this will only begin – this 100 weeks (and God is ready to begin it today) – the day when all malice departs from our heart, when we do not look upon another brother or sister and find that we have a critical spirit towards them. It will not be a matter of restoring but a matter of a change of heart that will begin the 100 weeks that God wants to bring to pass within the fellowship.
The Lord however is going to continue to pour out over that period of 100 weeks and raise up ministries that we know nothing of at this time. During that time the Lord is also going to bring into the midst of us people who have led in other fellowships, but they have become not only disheartened and discouraged but also despised. Therefore, when they come amongst us they will not come as lions and mighty men and women of faith, but they will come dejected and broken.
In that time the Lord is saying to us that our ministry to them will be firstly to receive them, and having received them we will love them. As we love them God will release their ministry back into the work of God amongst us, but it will be as we receive them and make it known to them that we love them that God will receive that ministry from them and pass it onto us, and we will be blessed as well as the blessers in that situation.
Concerning the areas of our own spirituality, the Lord would say that we should not despise small things but we should rather look upon them as the seeds God wants to take and use. For indeed God has got a mind and a heart to show us big things and unless we cans receive small things we will never receive the big ones. We come with fear and doubt and pride and we say “God, this cannot be”, and God says, “Whatever I want to do can be, if you will only believe”. The Lord said to me that over these 100 weeks He is going to raise up men and women out of the midst of us that will leave some of us ashamed that we did not walk in that way before.
The end of the 100 weeks I do not know for the Lord has not shown it to me, but I believe that we have to seek the mind and the face of God that the 100 weeks begins today, that we put aside all malice and hatred, that we open up our heart and that we say to the Lord, “Lord, I am prepared to be a steward of your money, I am prepared to be a lover if those that have fallen and are broken, I am prepared if I am old to teach the young, I am prepared if I am young to lay hands on the sick and expect them to recover in Your Name”. The Lord has said to me that if we do this we will know an anointing like we have never known before and that the anointing will last for 100 weeks.
We need to talk in forgiveness and deal with any residue malice or break down of relationships. it’s time to forgive and time to repent of hurt caused.
2. We Need to Stretch Ourselves in the Present
Matthew 14: 25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” 29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
We might say this didn’t go well because he started to sink, but the point is he got out of the boat!
One of the areas we want to extend is our influence and ministries. These are sometimes different things to what we currently do, or natural extensions to what we currently do.
I want to share something that is a little of both. We are seeking to open a new branch to our education ministries. We already have the longest established nursery in Chelmsford. This has had its highs and lows but we have built a reputation with families through the years.
The leaders and I have been looking at a new possibility for the last six months. We are looking to parter with a Christian Charity called TLG - The Lighthouse Group.
They specialise in offering education to those in Secondary School who are at risk of education. We are therefore looking at partnering with them in setting up an education centre - a school - for 6-9 pupils who have not engaged with Secondary School for various reasons.
Key facts:
- 44,000 school leavers are unable to read or write
- Last year 5,740 permanent exclusions and 370,000 fixed term exclusions were recorded in the UK.
- 2/3 of the prison population have been excluded from school.
- 96% of young people who attend a TLG Education Centre will go back into mainstream school, further training or onto employment.
Whilst some of these children have behavioural difficulties you’d be surprised at those you know today who didn’t engage in the school.
Gibbs’ Story: Through non-attendance was referred to what was called and assessment centre in those days. It helped him get back to school.
3. We Need to be Bolder in the Future.
Joshua 1: 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. 7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
To do this we are going to have to be bold now. Boldness needs to be a hallmark of Life Church when God has spoken. We need to break off the limitations we have built in place of pushing into new things for God.
A few weeks ago I spoke on finances and generosity. I spoken about planned giving. I also spoke about getting out of debt (in the second service). Some of the headings were:
- Planned Generosity (1 Corinthians 16:1-2)
- Incremental Generosity
- Give with the right motive
- Give Generously (2 Corinthians 9:6-7)
- Give Thoughtfully and Prayerfully
- Give Willingly
- Give Cheerfully
For us to carry out the necessary renovations and refurbishment of the area we want to use (kitchen, toilets, Oasis, Dining Room, reorganising storage etc), has a financial cost. We will all benefit from these improvements but having nicer facilities is the by product. We want to change lives!
The good news is that we have been offered £16,000 in a grant from TLG to buy the equipment we will need initially. The other good news is that once the centre is up and running the funding for running costs comes from the schools who send pupils.
The other good news is that we have an opportunity to give. We will need to raise in the region of £66,000. That’s NOT a lot of money. It will require some planned giving.
On Sunday 26th October we are giving the opportunity to give. We are not asking for money today. I’d like this to happen in four ways:
- Firstly, go home and pray. Seek God what you should give.
- Secondly, linked with the first thing, work our your budgets. Make sure you can be generous in a cheerful way.
- Thirdly, on the day you can give a lump sum of cash/cheque. It may be that you are able to release some savings.
- Fourthly, we will be operating a pledge/promise system. You may not be able to a large lump sum but could give smaller amounts over a period of six months. So we will be asking you to make a budgeted promise that over a period of six months you can give an amount over and above your normal giving.
Our next Big Questions night will focus on this ministry and you will have the opportunity to ask questions about it.
God has unfinished business in our lives. To deal with hurt, un-forgiveness and brokenness.
We can’t allow our pain to prevent God from moving us forward into new things.
We have a new challenge and promise before us. A great opportunity to make a huge difference on the lives of young people and families. Let us not miss this moment.
We have an opportunity to all be involved in prayer and giving. We have the possibility to reorganise our finances for the betterment of others and not ourselves.
Let’s do it!
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