THE CALL TO FOLLOW JESUS IN 2006

Jesus called Peter and Andrew when they were casting a net into the sea. He said to them “follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” “They immediately left their nets and followed Him.” Similarly James and John responded immediately and followed Jesus. Matt.4:18-22. We know from the book of John that Jesus had previously met Andrew, Peter and John in the company of John the Baptist. From this we can deduce that these young men, including Philip and Nathanael, were looking for “the Hope of Israel”. They were all from the same fishing village, Bethsaida, and were involved in the fishing industry, and yet they were also involved in the revival that was happening through the ministry of John. It is interesting to ponder ‘what was in the hearts of these young men?’ They were predestined by God to be called and chosen to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even so we are predestined by God to be called and chosen to be disciples of Jesus Christ. The goal of discipleship is to be able to send out trained ministers into the work of the harvest. As we enter this New Year and Revival Ministries Australia is beginning our ninth year as an apostolic ministry raised up by Jesus Christ, the Lord is challenging us to revisit and reinstate basic discipleship and ministry training in order to raise up workers for the harvest.

 

JESUS THE DISCIPLER

Jesus began to call men to follow Him and be His disciples after He returned from the wilderness experience. Both Matt.4 & Lu.4 tell us that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Having overcome the devil and temptations, Jesus was now fully qualified to begin His ministry and a key part of His ministry was to make disciples, and then to train and equip some of those disciples to be the ministry leaders of His church. 1Jn.2:13-14 tell us that “young men” are those who “have overcome the wicked one”, that young men are those who “are strong and the word of God abides in them”. Jesus had grown to maturity, the final test being His victory over the devil. A disciple is ready to begin ministry when they have come into a measure of victory over temptation and over the devil. It is out of this victory that we minister to others. Sometimes in the church an individual is seen to have a gift and so they are encouraged to minister. However often that person has not been discipled in the word nor actually trained in ministry and so the ministry that goes forth does not produce the fruit of the kingdom.

 

Who discipled Jesus? What had happened in His life to make Him ready? Jesus being the Son of God is a totally unique person. However in becoming man, Jesus took upon Himself fully our humanity. When His parents found Him in the temple at the age of 12, He said to His mother “did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” Lu.2:49 After that Jesus “went down with them to Nazareth and was subject to them … And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men.” v.51-52 The only other Scriptural insight we have of Jesus before His baptism is from Lu.4:16 which tells us it was Jesus’ custom to go into the synagogue. There were eighteen years of preparation for the man Jesus to take up the ministry as the Messiah.

 

Through these eighteen years Jesus walked in obedience – He was subject to His parents; Jesus walked in grace - His dependency upon God - and grew in stature, speaking of His upright lifestyle; He learned patience, waiting for the time to come when He would fully know the Father’s will. He was prepared and ready by the age of thirty to step into the ministry as Messiah and then as Saviour/Redeemer. We could say that Jesus was directly discipled by His Father through the Spirit, even as John the Baptist was trained and raised up by God Himself.

 

In Matt.3 Jesus came to John for baptism. He was fulfilling “all righteousness” v.15. It was at His baptism that God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and declared His Sonship. Jesus was at the age of thirty. This was the age of a male becoming a mature man, a mature son able to receive the father’s inheritance. Jesus was then led into the wilderness and after His forty day fast and confrontation with the devil “angels came and ministered to Him” Matt.4:11. Then Jesus began His ministry. He began to preach “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. So the beginning of ministry for Jesus was to preach the kingdom of God. Very few of us in coming to Christ and then stepping into ministry at some point actually realise that the message is the gospel of the kingdom of God or the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because of this many things that are said and done in ministry miss the vital reality of preaching the kingdom of God and bringing people into the kingdom through the new birth, Jn.3:3-6. The result is that the church is largely a powerless institution in society and not the embassy of the kingdom of God in every town and city on the globe.

 

THE FIRST DISCIPLES

We have already said that six of the disciples came from the same town and that at least five of them had met Jesus when they were in the company of John the Baptist. These young men, having been brought up as faithful Jews, practising the religion of their fathers, were searching for something more and had an ear to hear what the Spirit was doing and saying. So while they were still employed with their fathers in the fishing business they had time to also be part of the revival that was gripping the nation at the time. Because of their heart to hunger and thirst for ‘the more’ they were able to recognise Jesus when they were introduced to Him.  Therefore they were able to respond immediately to His very demanding call to discipleship. How many of us have been willing up until now to respond immediately and whole-heartedly to the call to discipleship by Jesus Christ?

 

These Men Left All To Follow Jesus: they left family; they left jobs and therefore income; they probably sacrificed their future inheritance in the family business; they left home and for Peter we know that meant leaving his wife, being absent more than he was at home and when he came home he had twelve other men with him looking for a meal! Many in our life-time have come into a relationship with Jesus through the word and the Spirit. Many have had a heart for what God has been doing and so there have been strong movements and revivals; new churches have been planted; Bible schools have opened and in Australia for example some of the big successful Pentecostal churches are known throughout the nation. And yet how many over the decades and today are really disciples of Jesus Christ? How many have truly responded to the call of Jesus and have ‘forsaken all’ to follow Him, to be discipled and to be sent out as workers in the harvest? How many of the churches and Bible schools are preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and teaching the things concerning the Name of Jesus? How many contemporary ministries, churches and schools are actually trainings “ministers of reconciliation” who go out into the world as ambassadors of the kingdom of God, exercising His authority as ambassadors?

 

OUR RESPONSE AT SHILOH TO THE CALL TO FOLLOW JESUS IN 2006

We are calling newer believers to discipleship and offering to those who respond a set discipline of Scripture reading and study and prayer, helping the disciples to receive, recognise and respond to the ‘rhema’ [quickened, spoken into the heart] word of God and directing the disciples into witnessing to their faith on a regular basis, trusting God for opportunities and for the power to witness.

Secondly we are forming mentoring groups and individual relationships with those disciples who are ready to minister or who are already ministering. We recognise the need to equip workers for ministry. To this end we are having some practical training sessions in the following areas of ministry: how to lead a person to Christ, including baptism; how to minister the baptism of the Holy Spirit; instruction in exercising the gifts of the Holy Spirit, 1Cor.12:4-11; how to worship – learning to flow with the anointing of the Spirit; practical training and involvement in prayer and intercession; how to minister healing and deliverance; how to be involved in outreach and evangelism.

 

All that we do is to be in the context of the kingdom of God, not in the context of some inherited form of church. The church is a body not an institution! The church is not meant to have developed its own life – its own organisational structure, government etc - separate to the kingdom. All power and authority is with Jesus Christ. He does not give that power and authority to church institutions.

He releases His power and authority through His disciples who have been trained and sent out in ministry

 

CALENDAR

OVERSEAS TRIPS

Jan. 23^rd Paul departs for Kenya, having meetings in Nariobi, and Western Kenya with apostolic leaders and in pastors’ seminars. Returns Feb.10^th.

 

Feb. 5^th – 20^th Jean & Bruce Manning in Myanmar. Jean will be teaching for a few days in Reaching the World Bible College and then on Sat.11^th Feb. will be officially graduating 41 students who have qualified for Bachelor and Master Degrees. Paul had the privilege of doing this last year and RMA has been able to financially sponsor this Bible College for the last year.

Feb. 20^th – Mar. 19^th Jean & Bruce Manning in India

Financial support for Kenyan & Myanmar/Indian trips

We need some funds to send with Paul into Nairobi, Kenya, so that he can adequately undergird the meetings there. Likewise we need some funds for the Indian trip to undergird the meetings there.

We have changed our policy considerably in terms of the work in Africa and Asia. All of the teams were finding it a financial burden to meet the expectation of providing meals at conferences and seminars and even supplementing fares and accommodation costs. We have advised our hosts that we are no longer able to do this. However there will still be expenses that the visiting teams will need to meet and always genuine needs among our brothers. Please consider helping with these needs.

Myanmar Report – Oct. Nov. trip by Arend Tibben & Donald Truss

Our brothers ministered primarily in Yangon. They had opportunities to teach extensively in three Bible Schools; they ministered in a number of local churches and visited some orphanages. Because of your generosity they distributed over $3000 in orphan support. Arend and Donald came home with a very positive and powerful testimony.

 

LOCAL CALENDAR

Jan. 19^th Thursday Bible School at SHILOH – 9am to 4pm and continuing each Thursday for 9 weeks in term one; be taught and learn to teach the word, including Bible research training, message preparation and presentation. This School is an integral part of SHILOH’s discipleship and ministry training. Students are trained to present the word both in a teaching context [using the manuals] and preaching the messages they have prepared.

 

Jan. 20^th Friday Night at SHILOH: a practical ministry training night, 7-9pm “Using Spiritual Gifts” Jean & Janet will share basic teaching; then there will be workshops. You can learn to use spiritual gifts. Friday night at SHILOH replaces the previous Friday Night Fellowship and is part of the new season in God. See program for Term one enclosed.

 

Feb. 24^th Friday – Pastors and leaders at SHILOH, 9.30 – 2pm, lunch included

Feb. 24^th Friday evening – fellowship meal at SHILOH, 6.30pm

Feb. 25^th Saturday – Training Day at SHILOH – 10am for morning tea, sessions 10.30 – 5pm

Coming Up:

SHILOH International Apostolic School of Ministry – April 12^th to June 17^th this school is open to all. You are welcome to enrol for the whole school and be trained in ministry or to visit the school for a day or a few days at any time.

 

Easter Apostolic/Prophet Convention – April 13^th to 15^th speakers include Samuel January from South Africa.

 

June 10^th to 12^th Apostolic/Prophetic Conference at SHILOH as a highlight for the International Delegates at the School. Leading ministers who will be in the school will be ministering.

 

SHILOH mid-year Apostolic Training School – June 19^th to July 1^st this two-week school will include the International Delegates. This school will be conducted as a ‘pattern’ training school to demonstrate to international leaders how to conduct short-term training.

 

 

FRIDAY NIGHT AT SHILOH 2006

 

An exciting way to be trained and involved in ministry

Ministry training, worship, outreach and fellowship

January

Friday 20^th “Using Spiritual Gifts” learning to understand and move in the

                   gifts of the Spirit, 1Cor.12:4-11

Friday 27^th “Leading a person to Christ” including baptism – how do I do

                  actually do this

February

Friday 3^rd “Receiving the Holy Spirit” – how to minister the baptism of

                 the Spirit

           10^th “Participating in Worship” – learning to flow in the anointing,

-         entering into God’s presence

           17^th “Gospel outreach Night” – praise and preaching and ministry

-         opportunity to invite a friend

           24^th “Fellowship Meal” – invite your friends: this meal is in the

                  context of a training weekend, saints will be here from out of

                  town

March

Friday 3^rd “How to minister Healing”

          10^th “Deliverance” – how to cast out devils

          17^th “Semi-formal Dinner” – dress up, bring a friend, there will be

                                  a ‘table topic’ addressed in the context of the meal

          24^th “Prayer and Intercession” – learning how to do it

 

          31^st “Informal Dinner” – an opportunity to invite friends, a

                                               celebration at SHILOH

 

Ph. 46130633     email: rma@revivalministries.org.au