ELIJAH IS COMING FIRST AND WILL RESTORE ALL THINGS

Matt.17:11 “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.’” ‘Elijah came’ through the ministry of John the Baptist, in preparation for the first coming of our Lord Jesus (v.12-13). But Elijah is to come again and restore all things before the “great and dreadful day of the Lord” Mal.4:5 – the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus.

 

THE DREADFUL DAY OF THE LORD

We are blessed to be living in the time of preparation for the Second Coming, although it is a ‘dreadful day’. The ‘dread’ is because of the increasing judgments of our Lord in the earth. A team of us had been in Pakistan until a few days before the earthquake. It has been a shock to us to realise that at least to the ones we went to, I was the first real apostle they had received in Pakistan; to realise that much prayer was being offered for Pakistan by saints in Australia, Mauritius, Africa, Myanmar and probably other places; to have experienced the heavy oppression of poverty, confusion and hostility, suspicion and unfriendliness that rests upon that nation, and then to witness judgment that has affected millions, over 70,000 losing their lives. God clearly says in His word that the purpose of the judgments is that “they shall know that I am the LORD” Ezek.30:19.

 

JUDGEMENT AT HIS COMING

And then to realise that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is in a large measure for judgment: He will be “revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe.” 2 Thess.7b-10.

 

THE SPIRIT OF ADOPTION

Integral to the restoration being brought about by ‘Elijah to restore all things’ is the restoration of the hearts of the fathers and the restoration of the hearts of the children (Mal.4:6). The great grace that Jesus Christ is releasing to us all in these days is the grace of sonship; He is releasing the spirit of adoption, which is the release of His grace and power to enable us to walk in sonship, to walk in a mature relationship with God as our Father. We become “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17) the day we are born again, but we must grow up in Christ from babyhood, through childhood, through adolescence and young adulthood to the age of maturity, which is the age of adoption as a son, now grown up, now ready to receive the inheritance that God has laid up for us.

 

The receiving of this great grace and enabling power is available for all whose hearts are for Christ in these last days; to those who will forsake all to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” Matt.6:33; to those who will “come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Cor.6:17-18.

 

We are to be separated unto God and His purpose: no mixture! No unequal yolk!

No idols in the heart, drawing us away. No longer excusing ourselves as to why

we cannot be wholehearted and single-minded for Christ and His purposes.

 

GRACE AND APOSTLESHIP

Rom.1:5 says “through Him [Jesus Christ] we have received grace and apostleship for the obedience to the faith among all nations for His name.” This is such a powerful verse revealing to us the means whereby the gospel will triumph in all nations. God has given us grace through Jesus Christ; it is ‘apostleship’, the reality of this special, peculiar, New Testament gift given first by God in sending Jesus Christ the apostle of our confession Heb.3:1. Then this gift was given by Jesus Christ in faithfully raising the twelve apostles: a New Testament ministry for a new covenant, for the founding, establishing and building of the church of Jesus Christ; and then given by Jesus in His ascension through the Holy Spirit. Therefore this grace of apostleship is available today and is exactly what the church needs today to fulfil our God-given task.

 

OBEDIENCE = ‘TO HEAR UNDER’

Another key word in Rom.1:5 is the word OBEDIENCE. It literally means to ‘hear under’. The same word is used in 2 Cor.10:5 “bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” It is crucial how we hear and what we hear; it has to do with the preparation of the heart and a deep desire and conviction to believe in and seek God (Heb.11:6). Rom.1:5 says “obedience to the faith”. How does faith come? Rom. 10:17 says “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

 

WHAT ARE YOU HEARING?

DOES WHAT YOU HEAR LEAD TO THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH?

 

Unless you position yourself to hear the apostles doctrine and position yourself to receive the revelation of the mystery from His holy apostles and prophets (Eph.3:4-5 & 8-10), you will not be able to receive the grace of apostleship that God has given in and through Jesus Christ. It is this apostolic grace that brings the church in every nation to “the obedience to the faith”. This is the faith that we are to contend for, “the faith once and for all delivered to the saints” Jude 3. That faith has been watered down or taught incompletely up until this time but now God has restored apostles and prophets to do the work of the ministry, completing the five-fold ministry that Christ gave in His ascension, “for the perfecting of the saints, …, building up the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the faith, to the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man …” Eph.4:12-13.

 

FROM FOUNDATIONS TO PERFECTION

Eph.2:20 teaches us that the foundations in the house of God are apostles and prophets. These two ministries found the church properly in the grace and truth of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the only foundation (1 Cor.3:11) upon which to build. Then the evangelist effectively preaches the gospel, bringing new converts into a properly founded church where the pastor and the teacher function in ministry, to nurture and disciple the believers. However the ministries of pastor and teacher can only bring the saints so far in terms of their maturity. Then the prophets and apostles need to provide training and equipping to bring the saints to full maturity, being able to perceive and understand the deeper wisdom of God, the revelation of the mystery.

 

Jesus Christ is the foundation of the church. There is no other foundation on which to build. The apostles are the first foundation ministry: “you are Peter” a foundation stone. “To you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven” Matt.16:18-19. How powerful is that!

 

Jesus Christ has given New Testament prophets, the seers, the eyes of the five-fold ministry to work alongside of the apostles, to point the way, to warn of pitfalls, to discern opposition, to declare present truth, to speak life into people and churches. In these days God is providing for every fellowship, every local church, every house church to receive the Biblical foundations of the ministries of apostles and prophets. Then the church can be built into Christ, the chief cornerstone and the church can grow up in all aspects into the head who is Christ.  For this to happen the prophets and apostles are also needed to provide equipping [perfecting] for the saints to enable the whole body to grow up, coming “to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” Eph.4:12-13. The same ministries that provide the foundational link to the Rock, Christ, now bring about the completion of the building of the church by preaching Christ, “warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” Col.1:28.

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REPORT OF RECENT MINISTRIES

Paul and a team had a blessed weekend of ministry [21-23rd Oct] in a live-in apostolic convention in Dorrigo, a small country town, 500kms south of our city, in a different State. The folks at Dorrigo hosted us in a lodge near a waterfall, with the most beautiful outlook. There were folks from the Tamworth group and from the Yamba/Iluka group [related house churches, both groups travelling two and a half hours to be part of the weekend]. It was a weekend with continuous meetings, lovely meals and good fellowship.

 

Saturday 29^th Oct. Paul and a team went to a small country town, Inglewood, [the first time in this town for public seminar, ministers from SHILOH have been to house meetings] and opened up the apostolic teaching. Because we were received there was a powerful release of the word and the Spirit. We are experiencing a fresh release in the ministry and believe that this release will flow on to and through our brethren everywhere. Some of the sisters in the meeting at Inglewood are testifying to a life changing experience: they have got the revelation of sonship, which is an enhanced relationship with Jesus Christ our Lord and our God.

 

We have apostle James Okech from Kisumu, West Kenya, with us for six weeks since the 16^th Oct. He is getting his training school personally ahead of time. He heard the apostolic message and had a transforming experience at the Kakamega [West Kenya] conference earlier this year - his first exposure to the apostolic teaching. We are blessed to have him with us at this time. He is sharing the word on a daily basis in house meetings and at SHILOH; as well he is diligently studying manuals, watching VCDs and discovering the depths of Strong’s Concordance. He will be returning to Nairobi to establish a nation-wide apostolic ministry in the capital. We are also blessed by the relationships that are becoming stronger between all the 'sons' in Africa. This is the true nature of the apostolic.

 

Now we have had a great couple of days on the weekend just gone. On Friday over 60 people came to SHILOH. Christine Wren, a prophet from England, spoke briefly and then James Okech [an apostle from Kenya] shared a very powerful word from Matt.7:24-27 about the two men who built - one on the rock and one on the sand. He spoke of the foundation we build on, the structure that is built and the covering. The flood is what tests the foundation, the wind tests the structure and the rain tests the roof/covering. Jesus Christ is the foundation, the cornerstone that supports the structure and the covering. Bro James will be travelling north with Rev. Jim Hosie, 1100 kms. They will be going as far as Proserpine visiting house churches on the way.

 

On Saturday again around 60 people attended. Christine took the three sessions - spoke prophetically, taught from the word and also released impartations. Her ministry is quite different; she is an equipping prophet. She is a very gentle humble lady who had much to impart to us. So we all have been built up and encouraged by her visit. God used prophet Christine to fully lay the prophetic foundation in our ministry and we are excited at what God is doing. Now the work will go forward in a fuller dimension of the five-fold. The missing ministry to some extent is that of the evangelist. We feel challenged ‘to do the work of the evangelist’ and will be actively seeking to involve evangelists in the ministry of SHILOH apostolic company.

 

 CONGOLESE REFUGEE CAMP IN TANZANIA

For some time now two ministry leaders from this camp have been communicating with us. In September apostle Peter Akeck of West Kenya was able to travel down to this camp, which is in a very isolated place, difficult to access. Over 60 leaders from every church in the camp gathered to hear Peter speak of the apostolic restoration and reformation of the church. Because of permit difficulties, Peter was only able to enter the camp for one day. However the brethren are very hungry and at their request Peter is returning late in November for a few days. We are requesting help to purchase two bicycles for the brothers in the camp. On Saturdays they are allowed to leave the camp to go to the nearest town where there is an email shop. This takes six hours walking time each way. A bicycle would cut the time to two and a half hours. These brothers live in the hope of being able to return to Central Congo and re-establish their lives and the church. [$200 AUD per bicycle]

 

 

INTERNATIONAL MINISTRY TRAINING SCHOOL – APRIL 12^TH to JULY 1^ST 2006

We have been inundated with applications and expressions of interest. Already we have had to advise many that we cannot fit them in. We estimate that we can host up to 25 only, as we are fully sponsoring the International delegates from developing countries once they arrive in Australia. They have to supply their own airfares and visa costs. We have applications from at least 9 nations and we have to give priority to those leaders who are well established as they will be able to reach many other leaders when they return.

To sponsor the students in Australia for three months we are looking at a minimum of $12,000. This is to supply their food and care. All the students will be hosted in the houses of SHILOH folk but we do not expect the host families to feed and care for the visitors at their own expense. We are asking for sponsors outside of Toowoomba who would like to be part of this awesome opportunity in God.

 

PAKISTAN & INDIA: DISASTER RELIEF

Pakistan: The ministry team who received us in Pakistan went up to the Kashmir area to take aid to earthquake victims two and a half weeks ago. They did this of their own initiative and were well received. In fact they were interviewed on a local television station as the Muslim people were so impressed that a Christian group had come 300 kms to bring aid to them. Since that time we have received some money to send to our brethren to enable them to gather more food and goods together and deliver them to the earthquake victims. If you desire to give to this disaster relief, every dollar will go to Pakistan and the brethren there are totally trustworthy.

 

India: There have been serious floods in parts of India and we have heard from two Christian leaders in different parts of Andhra Pradesh. Members of their congregations, including two pastors, have been killed. They are suffering much and the families of the pastors are in great need now. We have met both these Christian leaders when we were in Chennai in September and we recommend them as good men of God. Any relief provided will be forwarded to them.

 

CALENDAR

PLEASE NOTE the leaders day on Nov. 25^th and the training day on Nov.26^th have been cancelled.

 

Dec. 3^rd – there may be a special apostolic/propheticday in Ipswich day – please contact us

 

APOSTOLIC/PROPHETIC SUMMIT in Toowoomba,

JANUARY 2006 Thursday 6^th [evening]

All day Friday & Saturday 8^th

At SHILOH, 19 Russell St.,

Various ministries will be invited to speak in this very special forum that will minister

into the life of the church of Jesus Christ in Australia at this strategic time

 

TRAINING SCHOOLS 2006

Revival Ministries is hosting an International Training School from April 12^th to June 17^th. Already a number of ministers from overseas countries are registering for the school. Leaders in Australia are invited to be part of this school. As with all RMA activities there are no fees. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of an apostolic training school that is going to affect the future of nations. For more information check our website under ‘Training Schools’ and then contact us.

 

The International Training School is followed immediately by the

mid-year two-week training school [Mon.19^th June to Sat. July 1^st]

the International students will also be part of that.

In light of this three month school, there will be no January training school in 2006

 

 

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