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What Now?!
Let me assure you,
that despite the sad, convicting tone of some of the information on
this site, we are full of hope and excitement! The glory of God
is about to burst forth in such unmistakable ways that few will be
able to deny it. The gift of God comes in His willingness to,
before the foundation of the world, know each of us individually,
know that we were going to be stinkers who required much before we
were holy enough to be in His presence and then to willingly
sacrifice His own son anyway. Jesus, despite being God, humbled
Himself to become a man and to live a dirty, smelly life like ours,
and to be unfairly accused and unjustly tried and to die a death
unlike anything you or I can imagine. All in order that we
might see a role model of perfect righteousness and that we might
accept His sacrifice on our behalf to wipe the slate clean so that we
could be in the presence of a Holy God without condemnation.
God says that those who acknowledge their need, submit themselves to
Jesus and live a life characterized by love will become joint heirs
with Jesus. Imagine that!! Joint Heirs in an eternity in
the presence of God! That is the Spirit of Adoption -- that God
would risk His own Son on behalf of a stranger who had tons of
problems, and then split the first-born's inheritance with us.
There is endless
jumping up and down and shortness of breath and passing out - and
outright WORSHIP - if you're in the audience when Oprah gives
away new cars and stuff - but hardly a peep among Christians about
the greatest gift of all time. But something BIG is
coming! I don't know what it will look like exactly or who is
going to be out in front, but there are a lot of us plugged into a
New Song and the volume is getting louder.
If you haven't
already, find God. And not just any old god. They're not
the same thing. We're NOT all worshiping one god in different
ways! That's the lie that started mankind's crazy
ride!! There aren't lots of paths to that one Truth in the
universe. Don't worship the creation (stars, sun, earth, moon,
money, numbers, people, spirits) when you should be worshiping the
Creator that made them all and set them in motion and knows how it's
all going to play out in the end.
It's not enough to
pray a little prayer and get fire insurance to keep you out of
Hell. Jesus expects a real commitment in return for the kind of
gift God is offering. If you're not going to be different -
don't bother. We already have enough insincere Christians.
(Read the book of 1st John for more on this.)
There is movement
afoot to start consolidating resources and creating jobs for obedient
Christians first and foremost and using their labor to generate funds
for the Kingdom. More and more folks are arguing that if you
have marketable skills that can generate big revenue - then you
should work, live simply, and generate maximum revenue for the
Kingdom. If you are of an age and have the finances to retire and
move to Florida and veg in front of the TV, then you have the great
blessing of being free to devote your life to practically any
ministry at no cost. There's no age of retirement from Kingdom responsibilities!
Beloved, I think
we have at MOST ten years to do all that God is asking of us - maybe
less. (Not guaranteeing it or anything. Didn't get writing on a
tablet, just a feeling and a careful study of unfolding
prophecy.) What could you accomplish if you took everything God
has given you and invested it into a giant burst of activity between
now and then? And you know what, if we're all wrong and nothing
happens, then you will have had a chance to be obedient and trust in
God instead of your own skills or those of your investment banker.
It's going to take
massive amounts of money to fulfill the Great Commission in the next
few years. The Church is UNABLE to do it because they're unwilling to
stop spending on themselves. Despite hundreds of denominational plans
to reach the world by 2000, we didn't even keep up with population
growth. They spend $8 BILLION a year going to conferences to TALK
about how to DO missions. No self-respecting business executive with
any hope to keep their job would spend the way we do in the church.
The only chance is a massive movement of God's people to be obedient
with their own money and to be creative in generating massive new
amounts of money and making sure it gets used efficiently.
Let me draw you
the contrast. Many of the Gospel
for Asia native missionaries go to seminary for three years
waking at 6am and studying, praying or preaching until midnight. They
live on around $2 per day. They pray and agonize to hear the Lord say
where he wants them to go. When they get a word, GFA buys them a one
way bus ticket and sends them off with a change of clothes and lots
of tracts and materials. In some places the new missionary is
escorted to the village by GFA elders. There they pray for the
village for hours, claiming it for Christ. Then the young church
planter is asked where he would like to be buried. In some cases they
dig the grave in advance. Then he goes off into that town to work
without ceasing until they ALL come to Christ - or they kill him. No
furloughs, no phone calls home, no email, no luxuries of any kind.
Just perfect and complete faith in God and gigantic piles of treasure
being stored up in Heaven - exactly the kind of treasure we SHOULD be
lusting after! Many are beaten, some are killed. They now have nearly
15,000 missionaries on the field on a budget of $30 Million, versus
less than 5,000 missionaries on the field with the Southern Baptist
Convention with a budget of around $400 Million. In just ONE province
in India in October (2004), GFA baptized over 24,000 souls - and
stayed in town and discipled them. There are billions still unreached
with the Gospel and thousands waiting to go to Bible college if they
can get funding help.
The Dalit
people, one of the "untouchable" castes of
Hinduism in India, nearly 300 MILLION people have decided that their
only chance to escape a constant fate of horrifying discrimination
and repression is to give up Hinduism. The greatest single
opportunity ever offered the church stands ahead of us. The Dalits
may decide for Christianity and then we'll need to funnel millions of
dollars in there to evangelize and disciple them. Imagine it, 300
MILLION souls in the receiving line in Heaven to hug you for playing
a part in bringing them to Christ!!
I'm not called to
go to the field. I'm called to stay and use everything I have to
advantage to support those on the field.
I want to see who
is building the largest pile of Heavenly reward and then I want to
buy stock in them. I want to be a part of whatever they're doing and
help any way I can. (Read more on this)
We're told there
are two options; make LOTS of money and be controlled by it and the
houses and cars and trucks. OR make a tiny bit of money and learn to
live simply. But there IS another choice - make LOTS of money AND
live simply and then invest the excess in the Kingdom.
But if you really
want to try and understand all this and if you want to see what
difference Jesus can make in your life, get in touch with us at fotm@FellowshipOfTheMartyrs.com
. We want you to find happiness and to be plugged into the New
Song. If all the searching you've done hasn't found you what
you're looking for, it's because everything you've tried is based on
a system designed by Man. But don't give up, the New Song is playing.
We love you.
For real. Not for fake.
We also believe
that the "New Wineskin" that God wants to use to pour out
His glory is the City Church.
We can't find
anything else in the Bible. Church
of Jerusalem, Church of Laodecia, Church of Smyrna, etc.
You
will NOT be able to find anything like "First Pauline Church of
Ephesus (Chattanooga Synod)" anywhere in the Bible as one of the
allowable models for "church". We were NEVER supposed to
divide up into all these sects!! We just weren't. Everybody knows it,
let's just admit it and knock it off.
Read
the scriptural justification for this here.
Read the full
book by Watchman Nee "The
Normal Christian Church Life." What
"church" is supposed to be.
Copyright 2005 www.FellowshipOfTheMartyrs.com
Use freely, but
with no changes and a link back here.
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