Phil’s Blog

One of the plagues of modern life is the busyness and the routine that so easily consumes us. It is possible to pour out all your energy and personal resources for the primary purpose of just keeping your head above water and maintaining the life that you already have. And yet we know that there is much more to life than survival. One of the reasons that we get into a rut is a lack of vision for anything different. The world around us is living in a never ending cycle and we can easily get pressed into that mold. Before we know it we have lost our expectation or faith for anything different.

Pro 29:18  Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law. 

This weekend about 140 000 men gathered in a farming community outside Greytown to sit under the ministry of Angus Buchan. God has raised Angus up in South Africa in these days and he is having a significant influence. He has been calling men into a genuine relationship with Christ and to live in a way that is consistent with their faith. On Friday night there were an estimated 20 000 men who responded to a gospel invitation to receive Christ.

A number of men from our local church have attended this conference over the last few years and many of them have come back with testimonies of God’s work in their lives. One young man testified on Sunday night that his first love for God had been revived.

To me, this is undeniably a move of God. For this number of men to attend a weekend gathering in the name of Christ, and for the fruit that is coming out of times like this, it can only be by God’s hand. May God continue to use Angus in South Africa and beyond. May there be many thousands and even hundreds of thousands who come into a genuine new birth experience with God through his ministry. May there be an activation of the men in this country to stand up and take leadership over their homes, businesses, churches etc. And may the kingdom of God advance in our day even more than we could ask or imagine.

I am reminded of the song of Deborah and Barak recorded in Judges Ch 5.

When the princes in Israel take the lead, when the people willingly offer themselves — praise the LORD!

This last weekend in Victory Faith Church, we had Ray and Moira Oliver minister to us at an Elders meeting on Friday and at our 2 Sunday services. Ray and Moira have been serving God faithfully in ministry for many years (Ray has been a believer for about 50 years). They have planted churches, raised up leaders, seen the lost come to Christ and helped build the local churches around the world through their relationships with others. 

In this blog I have highlighted some of the key points that stood out to me from the weekend for your meditation and encouragement:

1. The primary position of elders is to be around the throne of God (Rev 4:4). People are longing for a leadership that spend their time in the throne room of God and minister out of that place to the people. When leaders are consumed with activity primarily rather than intimacy with Him, the result is a lack of anointing and effectiveness in ministry.
2. Victory Faith Church is called to “Keep Pioneering”. A mature church needs to relaunch itself so that it is able to have the zeal of a new church plant along with the wisdom of maturity which will make it truly effective. (This is a paraphrase of a quote by Mark Driscoll)
3. The christian community is to be a worshipping community. The promises of scripture are that if we draw near to him, he will draw near to us (James 4:8) and that there will be glory in the church throughout all eternity (Eph 3: 21). As we worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4: 23) he will manifest his presence and his glory among us and we will be a people that draw others into his life.

Let us take to heart the words that we receive from God and apply them to our lives. Let us fall more and more in love with Christ all the days of our lives and let us bring glory to his name by fulfilling his purposes in our generation and by passionately worshipping him with all our beings.

Right through the New Testament there are some rich summary verses which give us a concise yet very clear picture of the gospel message. These are great verses to have at your fingertips to be able to walk someone through the gospel in a short space of time and in an uncomplicated way. Perhaps the most well known example would be John 3: 16:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

The gospel starts with God - ‘For God’. If God did not take the initiative in salvation, there would not be a single human being who would be saved. It was God’s plan of salvation (we are told that the lamb was slain before the foundation of the earth - Rev 13:8). It is also God who works on the hearts of men to cause them to be born again, to be made alive because they were dead in their sins (Eph 2:1). The initiative is completely with God.

The gospel is good news because it speaks of the love of God for people. This verse does not speak of a God who so tolerates the world that he sent his Son but of a God who so loved the world. God loves all the people of the world so much that he offered the greatest sacrifice imaginable to provide a way of salvation.

The salvation that God has provided is for everyone. ‘Whoever’ believes. There is no restriction. No culture is excluded. No sin is too great to be covered over by the sacrifice of Christ. There is no-one who is above or below the salvation of Christ. ‘Whoever’ believes!

The way to receive this salvation is by faith. The only criteria for someone to be reconciled to God is to believe in Christ. To believe that he is the saviour whom God has sent. To believe that the sacrifice he made was sufficient to cover your sin. To believe is to appropriate Christ’s sacrifice to your life. 

The result of believing is that we escape judgement and enter into eternal life. The whole world stands condemned already because of sin (John 3: 18). The default position of man is that he will be judged by God because of sin. Man is guilty and will be held accountable. But if we believe we will not perish but have eternal life.

John 3: 16 along with many other verses is a wonderful summary of the gospel. It comforts the hearts of believers and serves as a guide to lead others to Christ so that they too can enter into this great salvation

Psalm 20 is a wonderful Psalm, which reflects a truly spiritual and open posture before God rather than religious self justification:

Firstly, may God answer you in the day of trouble! That is a wonderfully real prayer. Even if it is entirely your own fault that you have landed in trouble - the best thing you can do is bring your situation to God.

Secondly, may he send you help from His sanctuary and support from Zion. This is a prayer for God himself to help you by His power and His presence and for you to experience the support of the family of God - the church. Both are necessary for our spiritual journey.

Thirdly, may God credit to your account all the sowing that you have done. May he remember your faithfulness in times past and reward you for your service in the kingdom. This is the kind of prayer Nehemiah prayed (Neh 13: 14 and 31). It is legitimate and is an expression of your ongoing relationship with God.

Fourthly, may we shout for joy and celebrate the active work of God in our lives. May we not be a people that are just relieved that things have not got worse, but rather be a people full of praise and joy at the work our God has done and will continue to do in us and through us.

May God bless you and give you all the desires of your hearts as you come before him with real, transparent prayers and as you remain totally immersed in the family of God - the church.

One of my favourite portions of scripture is Psalm 23. It is a Psalm that I return to regularly to remind myself of the way God describes his relationship with his people. (Other references to God as a Shepherd are Ezekiel 34 and John 10).

The picture of a shepherd and his sheep is an intimate picture of dependance and trust. The sheep is totally dependant on the shepherd. There is never a dialogue between the sheep and the shepherd about where to go or about what would be an appropriate course of action in the circumstances. The shepherd leads and the sheep follows. The shepherd provides and protects and the sheep is well nourished and is secure.

In this Psalm we see God as our provider - I shall not want. We see God as our source of spiritual nourishment and sustenance - green pastures. We see God as the restorer of our soul - still waters. We see God as our guide into his ways - paths of righteousness. We see God as our defender and constant companion - he is with us through the valley of the shadow of death. God comforts and admonishes us with his rod and staff. God is able to laugh at the intimidation of the enemy and prepare a feast for us in the midst of great adversity. God is the one who anoints us with the Holy Spirit causing our lives to be full of grace and ease as well as full of his supernatural power to live and to do what he calls us to do. He lavishes us with goodness and mercy and enables us to live in his presence all the days of our lives.

The Lord is my Shepherd!