August 2004 Newsletter

ARE YOU DRIVEN BY AMBITION OR ARE YOU MOTIVATED BY VISION.

There are men of ambition and there are men of vision. The man of ambition only responds to things that enhance his own power base, and build his self-esteem. Such a man, if he is in a position of power, will be threatened by anyone and anything that he thinks will not agree with him. When the man of ambition is threatened he takes up arms and exercises his authority to over-ride other people.

The man of vision lays a foundation for the future.  He pursues the vision.  The vision provides for the good of many, not just the promotion or wellbeing of the one.  People of vision at some stage in their life have stepped over a line; they make a commitment to what they see for the future; and they will stand in faithfulness to the vision no matter what comes against them. Men who are committed to the Lord and to His purpose are men who can be trusted; men who will not compromise.

Have you stepped over that line? Have you made the decision to follow Jesus in total commitment?

A PERSON OF AMBITION

Not all ambition is wrong. The Scripture says that to have an ambition [desire] to be a bishop [overseer or elder] is desiring a good work, 1 Tim.3:1. This word for ‘desire’ or ‘ambition’ refers to the intensity of the desire and it can be a good or evil desire.  It depends upon what is in your heart. It is generally ambition that leads men astray.  Pride and all sorts of self-seeking can become part of a man of ambition.

Ambition can be in an individual person or it can be in a church or a fellowship, or a ministry group.  The pastor can have a strong ambition to build something, or for his church to reach a certain size, etc. This kind of ambition does not edify.  Such people want to build something for themselves.

James 3:13-14 “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking [selfish-ambition] in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.”  Ambition of itself is not wrong, but so often it can overtake a person so that it becomes selfish-ambition. If you have selfish ambition you will lie against the truth. This kind of ambition comes out of the wisdom that is from below, v15 “this wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.”  It only brings confusion “for where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there” v16. A self-seeking person is concerned only with his own welfare.  Such a person is seeking opportunities for self-promotion.  Such a person places their loyalty to a part rather than to the whole; such a person will then be divisive, actually working to destroy the whole.

WHAT IS THE ANTIDOTE

Phil.2:3 “Let nothing be done through selfish-ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” The key to guarding against selfish ambition is to always regard others as better than yourself, and to have a commitment to a vision for the good of all. 

MEN OF VISION

Men of vision can appear to be similar to men of ambition [good ambition] but their ambition is for a vision that is much bigger than themselves, and includes the good of many.  It bears good fruit. Vision is for the whole body – it is an apostolic vision.  Vision will benefit individuals as they grasp the vision and become committed to it and through those individuals, the vision spreads and benefits many more.  Men of vision are not building for themselves, but are building for a future good.

An apostolic vision is a vision for the whole body of Christ. The church is meant to be apostolic in its vision and in its make up. God has set in the church first apostles. Through the apostle the mystery of God’s will is made known. The vision of the New Testament for the church is for every ministry to function, for every saint to be raised up to function. Those with an apostolic vision have no ambition except to serve the Lord in the building up of His body, in preparation for His return.

BONDSERVANT

Phil.2:5-7 “Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.” Jesus made Himself a bondservant.

The word ‘bondservant’ can also be translated ‘servant’ or ‘slave’, but refers to a voluntary servitude.  The bondservant willingly offers his/her obedience, devotion and loyalty to another, subordinating his will to the master. Bondservant refers to an employee who was paid wages. This person often had considerable skills and responsibilities and was usually treated well and protected by law. But a bondservant could not resign and work for another employer. Highly educated and skilled people as well as ordinary labourers, were bondservants. A bondservant was a volunteer, he was not a slave against his will. It was his decision to remain a slave and serve that master forever.

Paul introduces himself as a bondservant first, then an apostle. Rom.1:1 “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle separated to the gospel of God.”

Phil.1:1 “Paul and Timothy bondservants of Jesus Christ”.

To understand the word ‘bondservant’ we need to go to Ex.21:2-6. A Hebrew could sell himself into servitude if he needed money to pay his debts. But under the Law of Moses, after six years of service he was to be set free. If he was already married when he went into servitude then his wife went in with him, but at the end of the six years the wife would be released with him. However if his master gave his wife to him when he was a slave, then at the end of six years he would go out but his wife and any children born to them remained with the master. If he chose to remain then he became a bondservant, which was for life. He would only do this if he loved his master and volunteered to abide with him as a slave.

The Lord wants each of us to become ‘bondservants’ of His.

How does this apply? Why does Paul call himself a bondservant? Why would someone want to become a bondservant of Jesus Christ? Heb.3:6 clearly says that we the church are the house of God, specifically the house of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have been rescued by Jesus and brought into God’s house where we are to become servants.  However in God’s house, we are actually a family so we are to grow from being little children to become mature sons.  It is at the point of maturity or accepting and realising sonship, that we then have the choice to become a bondservant.  Now our service is to be totally voluntary.  Now as sons we lay our lives down for the brethren even as Jesus did.  Paul the apostle had made this choice.  Have you made this choice?

Some seem to be committed; they work in the vision, but actually have selfish ambition in their hearts. They have not become bondservants. Some who have come in alone to work with us have tried to take some of the family out with them when they have gone. This is a sure sign of one who is serving out of selfish ambition. A bondservant is someone you can fully trust. They are totally committed, having stepped over the line, having voluntarily made their choice.

SAUL AND DAVID, 1 Sam.9 - 2 Sam.5

Saul acted out of selfish ambition, trying to do things himself so he would not lose face in front of the people. Saul acted as a priest and offered a sacrifice for selfish reasons. He was concerned about his own leadership. He disobeyed the Lord and so his kingdom was taken from him.

David was a man of vision. He is the one the Lord chose to be king after the kingdom was taken from Saul. He was anointed by Samuel to be king. Saul resented David and tried many times to kill him, because of his own ambitions. David had opportunities to kill Saul twice but he left him for the Lord to deal with.

Saul’s son made a covenant with David. He recognised that David was the Lord’s anointed and the one chosen by God to be the next king.  But Jonathon’s fatal flaw was that he finally did not separate himself from the old order and this cost him his life.  He knew what the new order was, and even recognised what God was doing through David, but he still chose to remain faithful to the old system with a misplaced loyalty.

Today the new order that is emerging is the apostolic church, non-institutional relationship based church that has a vision for the whole body of Christ being raised up, being ready for the coming of the Lord, having fully preached the gospel in all the world.

The old order is full of ambition, both individual and denominational.  This is the old system and there are those who are caught in the middle; they have heard about the new order and even have some sort of vision for it but their loyalty is misplaced keeping them faithful to the old system.  These people could die in the old system if they are not careful. They do not have understanding of the times! 1 Chron.12:32. One of the features of the sons of Issachar was that they knew to make David king; they knew that it was time to switch loyalty from the old to the new.

There has to come a great shift from the old to the new. A big portion of the old is going to come into the new. It is time to come out of the old and come into the new. It is time for a loyalty switch.  Time to become a bondservant.

CALENDAR

Sat.7^th Aug.  -  Jean & Bruce Manning depart for 3 week ministry trip to

                        Myanmar.

Wed. 18^th Aug. -  Jim & Zoe Hosie and healing team at SHILOH for individual

                            prayer ministry

Sat. 21^st Aug.  -  10am –5pm  Training day at SHILOH; apostle Paul Galligan.

Sat. 28^th & Sun. 29^th am. -  Apostolic team visit to Killarney.

                                            Ps. Ros Fraser. Ph.46641274

COMING UP:

China trip: Ps. Peter and Lezette De Bressac are visiting China for 4 weeks from

                  13^th Sept.

Nairobi apostolic training school, 9^th –20^th Nov. with visit to Mauritius.

Trip to North Qld to be arranged.

Trip into NSW to visit house churches and teach in Dorrigo also to be arranged.

Famine in Kenya – report

We wish to express our thanks to all who responded to our initial appeal for the famine in Kenya. To date we have sent $1600 to pastor Peter Wekesa in Kitale to purchase grain to distribute to the needy. He has replied to us by e-mail with a report of how he is using these funds.

He intends to buy grains and grind them into flour and package the flour into  portions of two - five Kilograms. This will ensure that many people will receive something and it will be fairly distributed.  

Ps. Weksea will share these portions of maize flour with a number of other pastors and bishops for distribution through the churches.

Ps. Wekesa also feels strongly that as a church they can use this opportunity to share God's love to the stricken neighbourhood. There are slum areas that are terribly stricken for most of the slum dwellers eat from dust pits, which are dry at the moment. Peter reports, “We will have to go to them with the little we have and this will involve the area chief as the government representative to be with us as we issue out this relief.”  There is also a Hospital mission that their church supports which is greatly affected by the situation, where people are dying of hunger. Peter intends to take one or two bags of flour to them through the District Medical Officer. (M.O.H)

Peter says, “Whatever little each group will get we will thank God for it will push some body for some days as we look on Him for what to do next.”

The KENYA FAMINE APPEAL remains open.

Any donations received will be forwarded to our trusted brethren in Kenya.

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