THE NATURE OF AN OVERCOMING PEOPLE

The current revelation that the Lord is opening up to us which came late in the International School, when I was teaching on Spiritual Warfare, is to do with the corporate nature of the church which the Lord has given to us in the understanding and practice of apostolic company. In the days of Noah the ark of salvation was a boat, but in these last days the ark of salvation is the church of Jesus Christ. Of course this demands a full and deep understanding of the true church as revealed in the New Testament. The understanding of apostolic company comes firstly from the example of the 120 disciples including the apostles and their leadership, who continued in the upper room in obedience to Jesus in Acts 1. These brethren continued in prayer and supplication and were “in one accord”. The main task given to Peter by the Holy Spirit was to set the twelfth apostle in place so that the foundations upon which the church was to be built, would be complete. Later in the Book of Acts we find reference to “companions” Acts 4:23, 21:8 and “company” Acts 15:22.

 

In mid 2001 the Lord instructed us to form an apostolic company and over the years He has enlightened us as to the understanding and practice of apostolic company. The apostolic company is raised up by the Lord to become a “pattern” people. Paul refers to this in Phil.3:15-17 where he speaks of those who “are mature” as having the “same mind” and walking “by the same rule”. Earlier in 1 Cor.2:6-16, Paul refers to the “wisdom of God in a mystery” which is for the mature to receive and this wisdom “God ordained before the ages for our glory”. God has always intended for the church to come to maturity and it is essential for the church to come to maturity to be able to receive the revelation of the mystery and begin to experience and walk in the glory of the Lord. In these last days the concept of ‘church’ has become very confused with many referring to a building as the church. Therefore God is specifically raising apostolic companies to model New Testament church. Notice that Paul says “we have the mind of Christ” v16! It is a plural reality! No one member of the body will ever have “the mind of Christ” on their own but it is a corporate reality.

 

By the Blood of the Lamb 

In teaching from Rev.12:11, it dawned on us that the victory over Satan, the accuser of the brethren, is only possible as a corporate [plural] body of believers, properly joined together, overcome him. The Scripture says 'they overcame him'. It is as the saints are joined together in apostolic company - a pattern people - who are committed to walking in maturity, that "the blood of the Lamb" works to give the saints the victory.

How does the blood of the Lamb work? 1Jn.1:7 tells us, "if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." Brethren, it is essential that we walk together in the light of Jesus Christ, being led by His Spirit in the light of His word, being in open, respectful and loving fellowship and submitting to one another in the fear of Christ. According to Eph.5:18-21 a submitted life to the brethren in the fear of God, is a sign of a Spirit filled life. Therefore whenever difficulties, disagreements, misunderstandings or any other problem arise between brethren, we must keep very short accounts and be reconciled quickly to one another in the fear of Christ. This is how the “blood of Jesus Christ” works in the body: whenever a problem [sin] arises it is to be dealt with immediately by repentance and confession, allowing the blood of Christ to cleanse. Thus the relationships in the body are restored in the short term, allowing true fellowship and enabling the saints to walk in the light together. While there is vital need for each individual saint to walk in the light of Jesus Christ, it is the corporate experience and expression that God is looking for – the church walking in maturity – and it is the corporate expression that will overcome the accuser of the brethren, providing for all the members in the fellowship to be walking in victory.

 

Colossians 3:12-17 is a powerful and commanding guide to life together in the body of Christ. God expects the body to function in this way, "bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also." We can too easily overlook the clear teaching and guidance of God through the Scripture in which He is instructing us as to how we should walk and conduct ourselves in relationships in the body. The apostolic company is referred to as ‘the elect of God’ and “the elect” are to “put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness and long suffering.” All of these are relationship words, governing our attitudes and our actions in relationship to other members of the body. Then the Scripture says “put on love … and let the peace of God rule in your hearts.” This is all in the context of the body.

 

By the Word of Their Testimony

Secondly they overcame the accuser of the brethren "by the word of their testimony". Notice again it is a corporate confession, 'their testimony'. This takes us again to Phil.3:15-17 "as many as are mature, have this mind ... Let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind." Let us "be a pattern people"!

In the Spirit Filled Life Bible the Kingdom Dynamics underneath Rom.10:8 comments on the word 'confess' Greek 'Homologeo': it has the connotation of 'a binding public declaration by which a legal relation is contractually established'. Literally this word means 'to speak the same word'. Remember we have talked about Heb.3:1 and the confession of Jesus our Apostle [this confession has been missing from the church for 1800 years].

The word of their testimony is the apostolic confession of "the faith once and for all delivered to the saints" Jude 3. This is the testimony: the knowledge of the mystery; the fellowship of the mystery (Eph.3:2-11); the reality of adoption as sons (Eph.1:5). It is to the company, the church corporate, that God gives "the mind of Christ" 1 Cor.2:16.

So the word of our testimony is our understanding and confession of who we are: the body of Christ, the elect of God, the saints, and the high calling [attaining to the resurrection of the dead, Phil 3:11] and purpose of God which He has already accomplished in Christ Jesus (Eph.3:11) and is now bringing to pass in the last days church.

This testimony includes the knowledge of the mystery, “the fellowship of the mystery” Eph.3:9, whereby God now intends “that the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenlies.” v10 Can you now see how the corporate church walks in victory, overcoming the accuser of the brethren?

 

Loving not their own Lives to the Death 

Thirdly they overcame him "loving not their own lives to the death". This is the outworking of 1 Jn 3:16 "by this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." Loving not our lives to the death speaks of our commitment to the fellowship, to the apostolic company and our appreciation of our placement in the body of Christ, "we were bought with a price." The ultimate price is martyrdom, and martyrdom is not only 'dying for the faith' but it is also laying our lives down for our friends. In recent times the Lord has made it clear to us that He wants us ‘to give our heart to Him and to one another’. This is the nature of apostolic company. I have given my heart to my brethren. My brethren have given their hearts. As the reality of ‘loving not our own lives to the death’ becomes known to us, the committed relationships that we enjoy become a powerful bulwark against the enemy’s attack, which mostly comes through accusations.

 

When we begin to walk in this revelation of apostolic company, of true Christian fellowship and community, we will experience corporately enormous victory over the evil one and the glory of Christ will be more and more manifest in and through the saints.

Paul Galligan. 09.08.06

 

CALENDAR

Friday 18^th Aug. Paul will be in Ipswich with Burning Lamp Ministries – Ps. Jan Beier: 0423322470

 

Friday 25^th Aug. Pastors & Leaders at SHILOH for a time of refreshing: 9.30-1.30 – including lunch

                             If you are a pastor or clearly acknowledged as a leader in the ministry or the local

                             church you are welcome. It is essential to book in for this gathering: ph. 46130633

 

                            Apostolic Council Meeting: 2pm – 4pm the council meeting is for pastors of 

                            local churches and leaders of ministries. If you are interested in being part of the

                            council please communicate with Paul Galligan: 0402442347

 

                            Worship Night: 7pm – 9pm at SHILOH. Hear the ‘new song’ of the Lord, be part of

                            corporate worship in the Spirit. All Welcome!

 

Saturday 26^th Aug. Training Day at SHILOH, 10.30 – 4pm; morning tea at 10am, lunch provided for

                                 gold coin donation. All welcome!

 

Sunday 27^th Aug. Combined meeting at Meringandan 4pm – a special time of celebration and

                              declaration of the word.

 

Sunday 24^th September - Annual General Meeting of Revival Ministries Aust. 1pm

 

 

Future training days:

Sept: 30^th; Oct. 28^th; Nov. 25^th there will be pastors gatherings on the Friday before each of these Saturdays.

 

OVERSEAS TRIPS:

East & Central Africa, for month of November – Ps Peter De Bressac will be teaching and sharing in various seminars and gatherings in Nairobi, West Kenya and maybe in Bujumbura, Burundi, and Rwanda

 

Myanmar, in November – Ps Jean Manning & Pastors Ros and Roger Fraser [Killarney] will be teaching and sharing in Myanmar with pastors and in Bible Colleges.

 

SHILOH SCHOOL OF MINISTRY half-yearly training school

January 2007, Monday 8^th to Saturday 20^th

Two-weeks of training and equipping with Apostle Paul Galligan and the ministry team of SHILOH Apostolic Company.

There are no fees, all serious disciples and ministers welcome.

Children’s Training School – running in conjunction

                         

REPORT ON APOSTOLIC MISSION TO CONGOLESE REFUGEE CAMP, TANZANIA

The following is a quote from apostle Peter Akeck’s report when he returned to West Kenya. This was Peter’s fifth visit to minister in the camp:

‘Permit me to report on the awesome mission to Tanzania ,even to the Refugee camp of Nyarugusu in Kigoma.To begin with, I am extremely grateful to the Lord who put it in your heart  to pursue earnestly the hunger of the word of God which was emerging from the camps. I appreciate every effort and sacrifice -prayerfully, morally, financially-that you have willingly pumped into this apostolic mission, that has slowly proved to be a major doing in the Lord's program of apostolic accomplishments in these days.

I managed to do a 5 day seminar in Nyarugusu camp with over 300 leaders including 70 committed disciples-for the first time the attendees had to hurry to find space within the building and latecomers stood outside while the seminar progressed. We witnessed awesome release of the deeper wisdom of God and the Spirit graciously brought us into the hidden manna. There is remarkable growth in the class if their ability to handle mature teaching is anything to go by.’

Peter was able to deliver finance given in Australia which has enabled 151 Secondary School Students to return to classes. They had been excluded because their parents had been unable to pay the $1.40 AUD per month per child. Money was also taken to provide clothing for orphan children [60 children were provided with footwear] – Peter also carried clothing from local churches in Kenya. Some minimal support was provided for two of the leading pastors. These pastors are teaching in a discipleship school that meets two days per week with over 70 committed leaders. They are studying a set course using our study manuals.

 

SOME NOTES FROM APOSTLE GEORGE MUTETI IN BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI

Apostle George Muteti from West Kenya has been pioneering apostolic ministry in Central Africa for some years. This is his fifth trip into Burundi and he is having amazing success.

The following is George’s most recent email to us:

‘It is amazing to be obedient to the high calling of our Lord Jesus. I began by ministering in a house church (an idea the church conceived when I was here last trip, in March ‘06) the attendance was about 150. The pastor is now breaking down the church into house churches: over 3000 saints will be fixed in houses by the end of this year. To meet the teaching and training needs the pastor has given me about 200 leaders . I am having them for two hours everyday. They are taking videos of my teaching  to use them for training other upcoming leaders; I seriously suggest that during  PASTOR PETER’S trip to Africa he should come here and give certificate to these Disciples.

I confess that the Lord is doing a greet work here; I have a lunch hour meeting every day for the two weeks; more than three hundred people are attending every day; I also meet the entire church every evening to give them the basic principles of our faith. Pray for me so much.’
When George was in Bujumbura earlier this year, he had 1700 delegates in a seminar and the current president’s wife attended one of the lunch time meetings he was teaching in. The president of Burundi is a born again Christian.

 

MISSION TO SUDAN

Pastor Elijah Wafula of the Kitale area, West Kenya, has been spearheading ministry into Southern Sudan for over two years and brethren in Australia have become involved in providing financial support. The ministry from Kenya has established a school in a village area [population over 20,000] and Elijah reported that some of the children were naked in the school. They are now clothed in lovely uniforms [see photos on RMA website].

Pastor Wafula writes: ‘The next trip is planned in mid October and will be taking two brothers from the church. However this is a hunger season in southern Sudan and the brethren we work with need some money for food and supplies. Normally we have a contact in Lokichogio at the border of Kenya where we buy food supplies and money and it will be delivered to Poktap [the name of the village] areas where brother Barnabas is. Also we plan to buy 5 bibles in Dinga [Sudanese] language to send.’

 

FLOODS IN ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA – ministry leaders whom we know have notified us of serious damage floods and deprivation caused by floods. We have received newspaper reports and photos from them.

We are raising support to help. Can you contribute?

 

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