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June 2009 Newsletter

ESTABLISHED IN THE GOSPEL

by Nicholas Jackson

In closing his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul pens a benediction which gives us the keys to understanding how God is able to establish us. He writes, “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith…” Rom.16:25-26.

  

Being established

It is God’s will to have us “established”. In Peter’s second letter he writes, “For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth” 2Pet.1:12. We need to be established in the present truth. The present truth is the truth of God’s Word being revealed to us in the present time by the Holy Spirit. It is understanding the purpose and will of God for now which is unfolded for us in the Scriptures; it is having “the eyes of our understanding enlightened to know…” the will of God (Eph.1:18); it is receiving the “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him [Jesus]” (Eph.1:17).

We need to have an ear to hear what the Spirit says to the churches and be established in the truth which is present among us. Many have established their statements of faith, their denominations, their structures and systems and have gained their identity in these. But God wants a people willing to move and flow with Him – a people established in the present truth.

 There are five key points that Paul shares with us enabling

us to see how God will establish us. He establishes us:

1. According to “my gospel”

Notice that Paul did not even say it was according to Jesus’ gospel, or Peter’s gospel or any other’s gospel – it is “according to my gospel”.  Paul had made the gospel his; he owned it, he lived it and breathed it.

If you met Paul, you met the gospel.

When Paul saw Peter and Barnabas beginning to act like hypocrites, withdrawing from fellowship with Gentile believers when certain Jews came, he confronted them because “they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel” (Gal.2:14). In the beginning of his letter to the Galatians he says, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Gal.1:8). Paul was serious about this gospel! Are you? Has it become yours? Are you willing to live or die by this gospel?

Paul wrote to Timothy, “Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel” (2Tim.2:8). Paul believed in the gospel – that it is the “gospel of Christ which is the power of God for salvation for all who believe” (Rom.1:16) and it is for this gospel which Paul says he suffers and is “willing to endure all things for the sake of God’s elect that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2Tim.2:10).

The gospel declares that there is a new king and that He has won a great victory! Jesus is the promised King, the Christ who has ascended the Throne of David, who rules all things (Is.9:7; Matt.28:18; Acts 2:33), and He has defeated sin and Satan (1Jn.3:5, 8; Col.2:15) and has “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2Tim.1:10).

He wants this gospel to be established in you so that it becomes “your gospel!”

 2. According to the “preaching of Jesus Christ”

There are not many today who preach Jesus as the Christ. The majority of the church worldwide has very limited understanding of who Jesus is and what it means to call Him the Christ. Christian bookstores are full of teaching on principles “for successful living” and motivational messages that are not what Jesus and the apostles taught.

When Jesus asked His disciples who they said He was, Peter declared, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matt.16:16).  Jesus’ response was, “…upon this Rock [the revelation of who He is], I will build My church” (Matt.16:18). The first time that Jesus mentioned the “church” was in response to the revelation of who He was!

We need to understand and preach the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God! Paul said to Titus that the hope of eternal life and the fulfillment of God’s promises are “manifested in due time… through preaching” (Tit.1:3). It is as we preach Jesus the Christ that we are established in the reality of His life. The Word manifests (becomes real in our experience) only if it is preached!

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory…” (John1:1, 14) God again wants the Word (who is Jesus Christ) to become flesh, to manifest in human beings! As the Word manifests through preaching, the world will see His glory! As we preach the Word of Jesus the Christ, the hope of eternal life manifests and we are established in His glory! Paul charged Timothy before the Lord Jesus Christ to “Preach the Word!” (2Tim.4:2).

 3. According to “the revelation of the mystery”

God establishes us according to “the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began, but now made manifest.” Already in Romans11:25 Paul has referred to the mystery of the Gentiles now being partakers of the “root and fatness” (v.17) of the promises made to natural Israel. The mystery is that God is “gathering together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and on earth – in Him” (Eph.1:10). “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus… There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal.3:26, 28).

Paul writes to Timothy concerning the revelation of the mystery of Godliness, that “God was manifested in the flesh” (1Tim.3:16). He says that this mystery has no argument against it; it is “without controversy”. This revelation is what makes the church “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1Tim.3:15).

God is bringing all things together in one, things in heaven and on earth – in Him! Heaven and earth came together in Jesus the Christ; God became a man! God, who is spirit (Jn.4:24) manifested in a Body! As this revelation truth is established in us, we can see clearly that God is looking to do the same thing in the Body of Christ. He is building us together to be a “dwelling place for God in the Spirit!” (Eph.2:22)

God is restoring apostles and prophets again to the church in these days to release the revelation of the mystery to the saints, thereby establishing us! (Eph.3:5)

 4. By the “prophetic Scriptures being made known to all nations”

Jesus has not called us to build big ministries and churches or to make money using the bible as a self-help book for motivational speakers.  Jesus told us to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them… and teaching them…” (Matt.28:19-20). We disciple nations! Not create church movements or exclusive clubs. We disciple nations by making known the fulfillment of the prophetic Scriptures to all men!

When Jesus appeared to His disciples after He rose from the dead He said, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’ And He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures” (Lu.24:44-45). Jesus made known the prophetic Scriptures and their fulfillment in Him!

Paul said that Christ’s death for our sins, His burial and His resurrection on the third day were all “according to the Scriptures” (1Cor.15:3-4).

When the day of Pentecost had “fully come” (Acts2:1) Peter stood up and declared from the prophetic Scriptures that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was proof that this Jesus was the promised Messiah (Acts2:33).

When the Ethiopian eunuch was reading from the prophet Isaiah, Philip asked him if he understood. The Ethiopian man wanted someone to help him and so Philip “beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him” (Acts8:35). Can you make the prophetic Scriptures known to all nations?

The ministry of the church is to the nations! It is through grace and apostleship that nations become obedient to the faith (Rom.1:5). The prophetic Scriptures were written as holy men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit (2Pet.1:21). They are of no private interpretation but are to be revealed to all nations that all men may see that Jesus truly is the Promised Messiah, God in the flesh!  (Gen.49:10, Is.9:6)

 5. According to the “commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience

to the faith”

The gospel is not a ticket to go to heaven. The gospel is the means by which God brings the nations to obedience to His Word! Paul said that the manifestation of God’s Word through the ministry of preaching was a stewardship given to him “according to the commandment of God our Saviour” (Tit.1:3).

We are commanded to preach the gospel and to disciple nations (Mk.16:15, Matt28:19). The result of obeying this command is that nations become obedient to the faith and so the kingdom of God is established. Isaiah prophesied this day in Isaiah2:2-4 saying that the mountain of Yahweh’s house will be established on the top of the mountains – that is “far above all principality and power and might and dominion” (Eph.1:21) –and all nations shall flow to it. They will say that they want to be taught the ways of the kingdom of God and His Word will judge and rebuke nations and the result will be, “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” Hallelujah!

This is according to the commandment of the everlasting God! It will happen, it is unstoppable, “the gates of Hades cannot prevail against the church” that is built and established on revelation, being obedient to God’s commands!

Nations becoming obedient to God’s Word! Paul said, “For I will not dare speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient” (Rom.15:18). The fruit of the gospel we are looking for is obedience to the faith. God establishes us according to his commandments!

 

It is time to be established in this gospel

It is time to preach Jesus the Christ

It is time to be established in the revelation of the mystery

It is time to make known the prophetic Scriptures to all nations

It is time to be established according to God’s commands  

for obedience to the faith

  

CALENDAR

A team of six of us [five from SHILOH Apostolic company Australia and a brother from North Carolina, USA] have returned from a five week ministry trip in West Africa – Liberia and Ghana – and East Africa –

Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. We witnessed the multiplication of apostolic training schools and we saw the fruit of apostolic training in the lives of many disciples. Most of those disciples were already functioning as ministers of churches, but are testifying to transformation in their personal lives and in their ministries. We commend the mid-year school to you.

 

MID YEAR TRAINING SCHOOL

SHILOH SCHOOL OF MINISTRY

Monday 29^th June – Saturday 18^th July 2009 [three weeks]

Venue: SHILOH CENTRE, 19 Russell St TOOWOOMBA QLD 4350

For all five-fold ministers and those called to leadership in the body of Christ and for serious disciples of Jesus the Christ

 

 

Each day 10am – 11 am prayer & worship.

11am - 12.30 teaching session

12.30 – 1.30 lunch

1.30 - 2pm Lord’s Table and testimonies

2pm - 3pm teaching session

3.15pm - 4.15pm teaching session

 

 

You are welcome to attend all of the training school or however many days you can!

Some billets are available in Toowoomba but you need to confirm promptly

to have a billet

Lunch Mon-Fri is provided each day for a gold coin donation

Fellowship lunch on Saturdays – all contribute

 TRAINING SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN & YOUTH, ages 4 to 13

Monday 6^th July to Friday 10^th July: 9am to 3pm

Children to provide their own lunches

 

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Discipleship Classes & Courses

At SHILOH Centre and in a number of houses classes and courses are being taught. If you live within driving distance of Toowoomba, plan to join a class and if possible complete a course. Such exposure to the teaching of the word of God will change your life and make you a vibrant functioning member of the body of Messiah, Jesus.

Thurs. 9am – 12noon during school term

Various other times during the day and in the evening.