Rev Peter Tsukahira
Related:
02-12-2017
(2nd session)
The day of
building our ministry and the church is ending.
The focus
is now on the kingdom of heaven.
Acts
3:20-21New King James Version (NKJV)
20 and that
He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,[a] 21 whom heaven
must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken
by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
Malachi
4:5-6New King James Version (NKJV)
5 Behold, I
will send you Elijah the prophet
Before the
coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
6 And he
will turn
The hearts
of the fathers to the children,
And the
hearts of the children to their fathers,
Lest I come
and strike the earth with a curse.”
Jesus told
John the Baptist that He came in the spirit and power of Elijah.
The fathers
= Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
We as
Gentiles are grafted into the olive tree of Israel.
God is
bringing the people of Israel back into the Promised Land.
Now you
have an indigenous believing body of Israel, fulfilling the prophecy of His
return to a believing Jewish Jerusalem.
We need the
same kind of clarity and faith to move into the next generation.
Growth is
not an option.
We need a
paradigm shift to accept new things.
Example:
Kodak is gone and is out of business. Digital camera came along.
Little
known fact: Digital camera was invented by Kodak in 1975.
So what
happened?
This is an
example of a paradigm shift. The rules that determined success changed.
This
revelation of Israel is a paradigm shift.
This is
coming out of the mindset of building church and coming into the concept of
building the kingdom of God.
Jesus
prayed, "Thy kingdom come." "Seek first His kingdom and righteousness."
The kingdom
of God is here.
Paul became
an architect of the kingdom.
1
Corinthians 3:10-11New King James Version (NKJV)
10 According
to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid
the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he
builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is
laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Master
builder in Greek is architekton. Today we get the term architect. An architect
works with the owner and develop the blueprint and bring in the subcontractors.
We have
been called in to participate in the building of the kingdom.
Ephesians
2:19-20New King James Version (NKJV)
Christ Our
Cornerstone
19 Now,
therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with
the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief
cornerstone,
Jesus is
the cornerstone.
Build on
this foundation and build with gold, silver, precious stones i.e. build with
sacrifice--put our best into it.
It is a
high, special, priestly calling.
Paul tells
us the rest of the foundation is the apostles and the prophets.
I.e. The
apostles who followed Jesus and were instructed to write the gospels and the
New Testament
I.e. The
biblical prophets
The common
denominator is they're all from Israel. They're all Jews. They're Jewish
disciples and followers of the Jewish Messiah.
Now it's
time for Christianity to converge with the kingdom of God.
How can I
find a way that my calling in ministry can coincide with God's kingdom?
It is not
about the numbers but rather, how much impact do we have for the rest of
society?
Unity is
the most important thing among leaders but it is also the most difficult thing
to achieve.
Your
success is based on numerical growth. You can be friends and pray together but
you cannot unify.
One new
friend in their congregation is one less person in your congregation.
Another
reason why we cannot unify is we have a tremendous focus on doctrine.
Having a
correct doctrine is important. But if we make it the most important thing, you
will never find another human being who believes in the exact same thing.
Doctrine
inherently divides us but service unites us.
Particularly
service to the poor and the weakest.
If you have
the right belief, you should also have the right actions.
The local
church is the beating heart of God. But a healthy heart pumps out. An enlarged
heart is a disease.
"I may
not know what you believe but I like what you do. And I want to do it with
you."
That's the
reputation that we should have.
Nicodemus
didn't agree with Jesus but he came to Jesus at night. He said, "Rabbi, we
know You have come from God..."
John
3:1-21New King James Version (NKJV)
The New
Birth
3 There was
a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to
Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come
from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered
and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus
said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time
into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5 Jesus
answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the
Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that
I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and
you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it
goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus
answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”
10 Jesus
answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these
things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what
We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly
things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly
things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that
is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be
saved.
18 “He who
believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned
already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of
God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For
everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest
his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light,
that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Later, when
Jesus died, he buried the body of Jesus. (John 19:38-42)
Are you
willing to start over like a child, like Nicodemus?
Speak
clearly about the state of the church as we see it. Speak the truth in love
with one another.
Jesus never
criticises the Sadducees or the Romans but he criticises the Pharisees because
he came from them. They were the evangelicals but they got stuck in their own
world.
Be serious
about the kingdom of God even at the expense of our Christianity, then we will
be a force of change because we are the agents of God--we are the ones who
should know Him.
Start
taking responsibility for your neighbour like the Good Samaritan--persecuted
scorn, minority helped a Jew.
The most
important meetings are the smallest meetings--that where people change.
King Saul
saw a threat in David because he wanted his son to rule in his place. David was
a man whose heart was after God.
If David
had thought he was entitled to drink the water out of the loyalty and sacrifice
of his men, he would have drunk it. But he poured it out before the LORD. That
was the heart of David. (Samuel 23:15-17)
That should
be my:
-Destiny
-Inheritance
-Great
reward
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