BOOK REVIEW: THE WORSHIP OF THE ENGLISH PURITANS by Horton Davies

 

Being new in Puritanism studies, I am thrilled with the tons of information about the Puritans and I somehow regret because I could have learned about them for the past years. Indeed there is a lot to learn from the Puritans. This is especially true when I browsed through the book by Horton Davies.

Puritans intended fundamental tenets from Calvin in contrast with the Anglicans, who followed Luther’s theology. This difference is the root of their differing expressions of public worship. [1]

Every church today may not necessarily be Puritan nor Anglican or hold strictly to Lutheran or Calvin doctrinally speaking. The thing is that there is uniqueness in public worship expression. And as long as everything is Biblical and pleasing in the eyes of the Lord, then who will say that the worship is invalid?

            So what are differences according to the book? One of the many differences is that Lutheran service is subjective while the Calvinist service is objective.[2]  The former “contained hymns which are the paraphrases of the Christian experiences..” This is evident in many churches today as expressed in many Christian contemporary Music and modern worship songs. There are only few Christians today who do what is being done in a Calvinist service, where praises are entirely scriptural, only allowing Psalms.

            The difference is clear in a sense that Puritans, holding to Calvinist tradition, believe that what is to be done is only what is ordained by God in the scriptures. Anglicans, on the other hand holding to Lutheran tradition, “will have what is not specifically condemned by the scriptures.”[3]

            There were so many controversies between the Puritans and Anglicans as the author expounded them well in every chapter. The point of Puritans is that Anglicans tend to miss the spirit of the scriptures as there is much focus on matters like vestments, ceremonies, forms of prayer, liturgical principles, and so forth. “Puritans observed the spirit of the Scriptures rather than the letter..”[4]

            I partly agree with the Puritans that there should not be “additions” as what the Anglicans do as they urge traditions in their belief system. Nonetheless, I feel that depending on the culture of a certain people group, especially today, we can freely contextualize but strongly with reservations. The Scriptures should still be over every contextualization. Thus, we can express worship to God according to the unique creation that He has designed us but always reckoning with what the Scripture says.

What were written on the Bible were mostly for the Jewish culture. But in reality, Filipino culture is different, so as Khmer, so as Koreans, so as Americans, and so forth. We are all unique and I believe the Lord has prewired each one of us to express that uniqueness in worship to Him.

A strong point that Puritans have though is that, “If God does not ordain these things in worship in His worship, how can they either please Him, or be edifying to His people?”[5] I would agree. But the Bible also says that there still a lot of things that Jesus did and taught but were not included in the writings. Hence there should be balance between interpreting the Word of God from the literal to the metaphorical perspectives.

“The Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible, is the religion of the Puritans.”[6]  As Puritans also approved the famous dictum that “The Bible is the Religion of the Protestants.” I strongly believe that we are to keep everything Biblical as Puritans would assert at all times.

“More radical Puritans and Separatists regarded the Lord’s prayer as a pattern and held that it was not intended that it should be repeated.” This one is agreeable since Jesus Christ Himself said before the prayer, “This is how you should pray…” and not that “This should be your prayer..”.  The Anglicans however interpreted it as literal command for repetition. Later Presbyterians combined both views.

One thing I admired about Puritans is their high commitment to gain more thorough knowledge of the Word of God. Hence their sermons are relatively regarded with high value. These are manifested by factors like vehement gestures, diction and so forth. To them “preaching was God’s appointed means of bringing men to salvation.. the most effective way of gaining the interest of a congregation and of educating it.. it could adapt themselves to the needs of the particular congregation and to the age in which men lived.”[7]  And speaking of sermon, Puritans normally invest the whole day to the Lord as their Sabbath day, wherein they attend two services. Today, not a lot of churches care so highly about the sermon as Puritans did before. Most are more concerned of fellowship and usually not focusing on the Word of God anymore. This is the sad reality in many contemporary churches.

There were three main divisions amongst the Puritans: The Indpendents, the Baptists, and the Presbyterians.[8] The difference is seen for example in the time and the way the sacraments were instituted. Nonetheless, all Independents, Baptists and Presbyterians still held strictly on the guidance of Scriptures in the administration of the sacraments: the Lord’s supper and Baptism. This is a good example to imitate since some churches today sadly have their own versions of  the sacraments. Some “reinvent” ceremonies to bring “flavour” into the celebrations, desiring that the LORD is pleased. This is especially true today when the Pandemic is still felt all over the world. I saw a viral post about a catholic priest using a water gun to baptize a child and it looked really hilarious. I wonder what God thinks about it.

The doctrine of ordination in the book also made me think a lot especially in our local church. The Puritans clearly take this seriously. What amazes me is the issue about the “laying of hands”.  Once upon a time, they were not sure if they will lay hands to the people being ordained for ministry in the church as it was either an “bene esse” or “esse”. I never thought that laying of hands has been restricted just for the elders and local church to do, disallowing neighbouring ministers present during ordination to lay their hands on the ministers being ordained. Today, we just invite all who are present to raise their hands as a sign of blessing or anointing to the ministers being ordained. In contemporary churches, as far as I have experienced, be it independents, Pentecostal, and so forth, there are no categories for as long as you are one in Spirit in the church, you are free to lay hands. At this point in the book, I am really in awe of how loyal each Puritan was to the Scriptures. On another note, I was thinking, are they being so dogmatic already for having all these strict “rules”? I would say no, because that is how they understood what true worship is. God is holy and He just deserves holiness out of us and if that is how the Puritans understood holiness, they I would agree with their ways. Nonetheless, the LORD looks at the heart and not focuses on the way things are being done.

To sum up what are approved or disapproved by the Puritans, it is noted that rings in marriage should not be used, no crossing of Baptism, no surplices as suspicious garments, no need to kneel during communion, having free prayer, and most of all emphasizing the importance of preaching as it is also called prophesying to the congregation.

What I am very much agreed with the Puritans is central position of the Bible in worship, doctrines, government, marriage, and all aspects in the Church. Nonetheless, the differences will never be inevitable because all of us are created unique. We have independent understanding and interpretation of the Scriptures and as long as the degree of differences is not significant as destroying our relationships as children of God, I believe it is all well. All these differences at low intensity will be blotted out once we see Christ face to face. All our questions and confusion will be answered when we get there. Our final glorification will bring light to all these and while we are still waiting for it, it is important that we all be patient with one another, and not criticize and hate one another, as if one is not abiding by our own standards.

God’s standard is holiness. And no matter our ways in worship to Him, the end point is that God is looking at our hearts. What is inside while we worship Him is only known by you and our Lord. That is all that matters.

 

 

 

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[1] Page.12.

[2] Page 23.

[3] Page 16.

[4] Page 55.

[5] Page 64.

[6] Page 67.

[7] Page 188.

[8] P.204.

BOOK REVIEW: PURPOSE DRIVEN CHURCH by Rick Warren

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Many critics look at Rick Warren as a modern false teacher[1] as he is being criticized  for his association with some accused false teachers like Robert Schuller, and using scriptures wrongly by too much contextualizing or inexplicitly using Bible verses in his works. On another note, popular theologians defend Warren like John Piper, who said that the famous author’s faithful heart in spite of their differences in methodological instincts and inclinations[2].

I have read Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life about twice some years ago and still trying to look at its pages from time to time. I find his work inspiring and it makes me believe that he is indeed a faithful child of God who wants everyone to understand his or her purpose in this temporary home that we have. All the more, I have virtually seen more of his personality as an individual, a pastor, and an evangelist through his book THE PURPOSE DRIVEN CHURCH (PDC).

This paper aims to provide my own summary, review, and reflections about Warren’s PDC. Reckoning with some reservations, I claim that everything I have written on this paper is not out of biases but of my own research and reflection about the book and the author himself. I also laid down my “Pentecostal lenses” as I look through the chapters of this book, hence, I have tried to look at every page as how the author wanted to convey every point. Upon finishing the book, I moved forward to formatting my own interpretation without losing the main points, especially the Biblical ones, as much as I can.

Chapter 1

SUMMARY

 

The book kicked off with a powerful metaphor of how the church and God make a partnership in His sending business, and Warren underscored it through the word “wave”.  He said that it is not our responsibility to create the waves, it is God’s[3]. What we do is ride on the waves. So to speak, our task is not to create spiritual waves but to see where God is creating these so we can join Him there. 

From the wave, which is very significant in Warren’s church context, he moved forward to sharing his own testimony about how Saddleback Church started. Purposely to set a platform about how to start a church, not necessarily for every church leader to copy but to actually consider according to every church’s context.

Warren touched very important points about how to start a church, covering important steps such as defining the church’s purposes and how to communicate and then apply these, while reckoning with the foundation of a healthy church. He also emphasized the importance of how to target an audience and developing a strategy to reach them.

It is important that everything is kept Biblical so Warren gave a highlight on how Jesus attracted crowds and how we can learn from His example. Worship was also carefully discussed especially in designing the worship service and the music used in the church.

            The book ended with a challenge for growth in all aspects. That from being unreached, people become attendees to later become church members (congregation), and later developed as mature members (committed) and then into ministers (core). This is the purpose of every church.

Chapter 2

IMPORTANT LESSONS FROM THE PDC

 

Every page is meaty. I can still recall the first 20 pages talking about how powerful the metaphor “waves” was when I first read it. I thought that Warren was right, God creates the waves and we ride on these. Sadly, nowadays, we see a lot of churches in the world who get so busy creating their own spiritual waves without asking God or even just seeking His will and purpose. A lot of our brothers and sisters are setting their own stages and claim that they are anointed and have the license to create spiritual waves[4]. Many are missing the mark and this is the sad reality. Hence, many churches stop growing. And in the book it says, when the church is not growing, it is dying[5].

From that point, Warren has already introduced the purpose of every church, which is GROWTH. Every church has to grow and the only way to make it grow is to make sure that it is healthy. Warren delivered useful suggestions to make a church healthy and he backed it up with very good points in setting strategies. All these were the products of his 20 years of experience in church ministry, from how Saddleback church was planted up to its current flourishing stature by God’s grace.

So how did Warren and the church do it? By God’s grace, their focus was not just to be faithful to God but to be fruitful. Warren believed that we are called to be both successful and faithful. “Christ does not expect us to be more than we can, but he does expect us to produce all that we can by His power within us.”[6]

For the growth of every church, Warren emphasized 8 myths that have blinded many Christians today.  To summarize these, I would have to say:

1.     True enough, not all large churches care about attendance. Most of these grow because they offer things that make them keep their people. What is important here is for every church to understand how to nurture the newborns to the point that they will not long for new mothers. They have to be fed well with God’s Word and be taught about their purpose, letting them grow in their own skills and uniqueness for God’s glory.

2.     Sure most large churches do not grow because small churches merged to become one new church. You will see if a large church had a genuine growth. You can sense it.

3.     It is agreeable that you do not have to choose between quality and quantity. Both are important in every church.

4.     Never compromise the message and the mission of the church in exchange of “growth”, that is in number. Jesus never compromised the truth and we should do the same. Let the church grown genuinely without sugar coating or giving shallow messages that intend to protect the feelings of many.

5.     Of course, Dedication is not the sole reason for church growth. Many pastors have surrendered their lives to the Lord and His Kingdom for many years yet the church will not grow. We cannot judge a pastor’s heart by looking at the size or quality of the church. That would be a sloppy gauge to use.

6.     It is best for a church to be flexible always. Wisely giving way to diversity. Because there is not “sole” key to church growth. Try many strategies as much as possible.

7.     As I said above, God expects us to be both faithful and fruitful. It is important to see fruit internally and externally, quality and quantity.

8.     Do not look at large churches negatively. Perhaps you are jealous? We can learn a lot from particular large churches that are not just growing in numbers but also in character. Realize that not all mega churches are prosperity gospel churches. See the good ones and learn from them.

After Warren talked about the myths, he focused on the “fuel” of every church. He said that there is always something that drives a church, some are driven by tradition, personality, finances, programs, buildings, events, and seekers. There was a challenge in that chapters that a church should have a clear goal and purpose and that all these other things that are being gassed up should be reconsidered and set inside the formatting vault. Every church should have a Biblical paradigm in setting the purpose, and that purpose should be God’s purpose. “Plans, programs, and personalities don’t last, but God’s purposes will last”[7].

In this matter, Warren suggested that the purpose should be well “defined”, “communicated”, “organized”, and then “applied”. [8] It will take a long time and committed study and analysis of the church context just like how a house is built. This is the foundation, which takes a long time to be set and most of the time, it is expensive and needs careful work. But once it is successfully set, you are sure that the house is strong and unshakeable no matter how strong the wind would be.

After knowing and applying the purpose of the church, it is important to learn how to reach out to the community and how to keep them. Warren introduced their system like a dart board, where the people of the church are categorized from being (1) Unchurched - community, (2) Regular attendees- crowd, (3) Members- congregation, (4) Maturing members- committed, (5) Lay ministers- core. The goal is to hit the “bull’s eye”, meaning, every unchurched goes to church, become a regular attendee and later decides to be a member of the church, then grow as a committed Christian, ultimately leading one to become a lay minister or later a pastor, missionary, evangelist, preacher, or whatever the calling will be.

This is not just plain program. Every step is critical. Every stage is important and should be given proper attention and care. For example, the unchurched are to be provided with clear explanation of salvation in the membership class. It is also important to carefully explain how trusting Christ becomes the first requirement for membership. The membership class becomes a very essential venue to set the foundation among the new attendees and hence the church needs to have the best teachers possible to assign in this ministry.

Saddleback church has three versions of membership class: (1) a children’s version for older elementary kids, (2) a youth version for junior high and high school, (3) and adult membership class.[9] Members start to grow because the church set expectations on them. Saddleback church even provides a membership covenant.

Membership in Saddleback church has four requirements: “(1) a personal profession of Christ as Lord and Savior, (2) Baptism by immersion as public symbol of one’s faith, (3) completion of the membership class, (4) a signed commitment to abide by Saddleback’s membership covenant.”[10]

Now once a regular attendee becomes a member, he or she is expected to experience progress in spiritual maturity. Warren says that maturity does not depend on how much you know but most likely evidenced in character. And usually, what goes along with maturity is the member’s commitment in ministry. As the process progresses, the member becomes deeply rooted in the Word of God, making it hard for him or her to not just sit but do more for the advancement of God’s kingdom. This time, he or she becomes a committed minister. Some even become church planters, who start pastoring daughter churches.

From simple membership to increased commitment, everyone in the church becomes fruitful. This is what the Lord Jesus wants from us. He does not want us all to be stagnant. He expects our faith to be dynamic in a way that we become active and become a blessing to others.

The church is made to grow and bear fruits not for itself but for the world. Hence the blessings are not meant to be kept flowing inwardly but most especially outwardly and to be spewed out as far as possible. This way, the influence is widened and the impact is made more remarkable, in Jesus name.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 3

APPLICATION UPON READING PDC

 

            While reading Warren’s PDC, I cannot help but think of my home church. This church is about to celebrate its 13^th anniversary this year. But our membership is not as great as others would expect it to be.

            The history of our church is rooted from a university-based organization which our pastor has started. Hence, members actually come and go over the years because as the members graduate, they evacuate to the bigger cities for more opportunities. The ones who became strongly committed to minister were just the ones left. Praise God there were ones who were left! Some of us feel sad about the number of members in our church but as Warren said, quantity does not define a church. However on the other note, Warren still said that quality and quantity are important.

            I would say that people in our church are doing well in the maturing process as Christian ministers. Their commitment is outstanding. However, I admit that we do not have a good system. And I guess that the problem lies on it.

            Our current system is overly contextualized that there is no prepared teaching or we do not even have an organized membership class for new attendees. Our culture is so much emphasizing on discipleship of the members, eating “meaty” teachings. Some members are assigned for one-on-one discipleship through the elder members of the church who are capable of the said task. I would say that the one-on-one system is great but still, I guess having a firm and organized membership class will make a huge difference in a positive sense.

            In our context though, it will be complicated to draft a membership program. We need to prepare not just three (as Saddleback’s), since Saddleback resides in an urban area and our church ministers to both urban and rural/mountain ministries. We need to cater to the needs of both worlds.     

            I have tried drafting a discipleship system for our church and still I feel that it is not enough. We need to translate many teachings at least in Tagalog versions so they become more understandable in the contexts that we have.

            Another thing that our church is becoming passive about is not having a more intent assessment of members. There are no labels like the dartboard of Saddleback’s. We seem to just have two types of people in the congregation, the committed and the uncommitted. And we are guilty of not having a vision for every member. Perhaps this is because Saddleback’s culture is so different from us, where people do not actually like labels and people here usually take it as a competition.

            With these, I would like to cast a vision for my church for its growth in Jesus name:

1.     Growth is necessary. Our church seems sick today but it will be well soon in Jesus name!

2.     A better discipleship system is soon to arise!

3.     Our pastor will be more open-minded for changes and the members will all embrace everything as long as it is according to the Word of God.

4.     Every member will commit himself or herself to ministry work and bring glory to God.

5.     The church will be united in riding on God’s waves and should not engage into creating its own waves.

6.     The church will multiply in number but the growth in number becomes directly proportional to the progressing maturity of every member.

I believe our church is on the right path but it has to undergo a transition when it comes to being organized. God is the God of order and I believe he wants things to be in order inside the church. Hence, I pray and lift up to the Lord this aspect. That through this, our church will grow according to His sovereign will.

I pray that the Lord will continue to guide me as I take the task of being one of the developers of the church’s discipleship system. Often times I get frustrated about it because some of our council members become very passive about this. I pray for their commitment to set strict rules to undergo the programs set through the system that I am designing by God’s grace.

I pray that the church’s members will have the thirst and hunger for Biblical education as they consider it as an important way of dressing up while being in the war. God’s Word in Biblical education practically comprise the armour that we wear in the spiritual warfare. Nonetheless, if not put into action, it is non-sense.

In all these, I declare and decree LOVE to be fueling every action. If God is with us, then love is with us and with everything we do, for God is love. Moreso, the Bible says all these will just be non-sense if not done in love.

I thank the Lord for His great love lavished on us but I pray that we do not trample on this love that He has given us. May this love be brought about in our lives and overflow externally towards people who need Jesus too.

In Jesus’ name…

 

 

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[1] Discerning Truth, http://www.discerningtruth.org/showthread.php?250-Is-Rick-Warren-a-False-Teacher.

[2] Desiring God, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/john-piper-interviews-rick-warren-on-doctrine.

[3] P.14

[4] I hear a lot of stories about charismatic “Christian” evangelists who come to different churches in Asia but when you look at their own background, you will be surprised. I heard one evangelist who had wives in Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines. Though he had a huge crowd, what do we expect from the attendees, will they grow with such contaminated roots? Let’s pray for those who continuously miss the mark. I believe the Lord is not done with all of us yet so everyone still has the hope to get into the straight path towards the Lord’s righteous Kingdom.

[5] In page 16, Warren said that the church is an ORGANISM not an ORGANIZATION. It should be healthy so it grows.

[6] P.65.

[7] P81.

[8] P95-150.

[9] P319.

[10] P320.

BOOK REVIEW: DR. ALFRED AND SANDRA EE VICTORIOUS CHRISTIAN LIVING (VOL.1)

 

INTRODUCTION

 

The book has a holistic approach of being a true and victorious Christian. From the clearing and renewing of mind, to the best control of tongues and taking courage to live a life of faith, the authors gave a series of anointed messages in the two hundred and sixteen pages work. Glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.

             The topics seemed to be very basic but the authors managed to press the juice up especially making them become more understandable in Asian contexts using their personal testimonies and experiences. The translation from Chinese was also good, although there were some grammatical errors or typo errors, which were forgivable because perhaps, some of the Chinese terms were too hard to translate.

            Terms like “divine release”, “to die to self, diet to pride”, “mantle of exultation” and more, just make the whole book more colourful and interesting to read. This is aside from the big font size, which make it easier to run from one word to another and from one line to another.

            All in all, it was a great book and I enjoyed it. This is a good read and is highly recommended for ministerial use especially as a material for Christian living modules.

            If a minister wishes to give a basic teaching to whether baby Christians or old ones, the book can give good inputs. The contents basically laid down a progressive approach to life as the Bible teaches.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 1 : BEGINNING WITH THE MIND

 

As what the Apostle Paul said in the book of Ephesians, on the sixth chapter, “Take the armor of God.[1]”, we are to keep in mind that we are in battles. The first part of the armor that he mentioned was the helmet and this means that, the mind has to be the first thing to be secured from the offense or defence of the enemy and even of self.

The authors made it clear that for us to be victorious Christians, we are to renew our mind on a daily basis. They emphasized that we are not to be too comfortable of where we are.[2] I agree because most of the time, it is when we are out of our comfort zones when we finally see what God is up to. We grow when our limits are stretched out.

As the enemy aims to deceive, dominate, and destroy us, it is important that we engage in Prayer and immense ourselves in the Word of God. [3] Indeed as the Word says that our battles are not of flesh and blood but of that in the Spiritual realm.[4]

A battle is never comfortable. It is literally bloody, tiresome, and there is fear all around. Yet when it is a winning battle, then you could have the joy while you are in its midst. As you slay the enemy and all the demons conspiring against God and the Church, your heart rejoices. You are perspiring and may get some wounds but these are nothing compared to the joy of winning because you belong to the winning team, and that is God’s team.

 

CHAPTER 2 : ACTIONS OF FAITH

 

You are an overcomer because you are a child and warrior of God. No one loses in His team. It is a promise from the Lord.[5]

God promises you to win it all and you have to cling on His Word. To do this, it takes courage and faith. The authors of this book stressed that from the renewal of mind, actions of faith come next. First, the words coming out of the mouth[6] and second, the actions of the body or how you live your life.

Living life is about dying to self.[7] The authors painted its spectrum in a nutshell of man’s main problem, pride. Without breaking the walls of pride down, it is not possible to follow Christ and live the promised life to the fullest. Winning battles is therefore never possible when this obstacle is not overawed. Pride has destroyed many people like some Kings[8] in the Old Testament, some Pharisees in the New Testament, and even Satan himself. Pride can destroy you, but if you have it rescinded in your hands by God’s grace, then you will win.

The authors wanted to emphasize that we are to die to ourselves daily, as the Apostle Paul said so too. This is along with the renewal of mind on a daily basis.

 

CHAPTER 3: A DEEPER KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

 

The grace of the Lord is new every morning.[9] As we have our minds renewed daily and our death to self daily as well, we grow in the knowledge of the Lord.

Knowing about God is superficial. Knowing Him is our goal. We are to understand how He thinks, how He deals/t with people then and now, how He sees the future, how He loves, how He gets angry, and so forth. The authors introduced this to me as they entitled chapter 8 as “Spiritual law of imagination”[10].

Knowing God, who He is and what He is up to in this world, will make us better Christians. It will help us take the true narrow path that leads to Him. “How to work the works of God? A work of God is a miracle. How do miracles operate?”[11] These questions are so valid that they actually set a framework for our Christian living.

God is the God of miracles and we are to live a life of miracles, be it small or huge miracles. We are to see God in everything. In joy or in pain, God is with us. He has miracles in store in every circumstance. Sometimes we see it, sometimes we do not. Our goal is to be freed from our blindness and see God’s miracles hither and yon then within and without.

The authors gave a list of doing this: Knowing God through His name, through His Word, through the lives of people of faith, through love, and through the Spirit.[12]

 

CHAPTER 4: MOVING WITH GOD

 

            Being a Christian means walking in step with God. Hence, we are expected to move in His direction. This is with regards to all aspects in life be it physical, emotional, mental, and even financial. The authors implied that we have a mission with the Lord and this involves our money.[13]

            For us to become victorious Christians, we are to let God take over. We have to permit Him in our lives just as how Peter has allowed Jesus to be in his own boat.[14] Many times, we try to let God out of our lives or just limit some parts of life where God is only allowed. It seems like one saying, “Lord please leave this part of my life for myself, You can join me in “this and that” but not here please..”. That is not the way it should be.

            God cares about us and He knows best. He needs to be in your life in every single angle every single day. There has to be no limitations for Him. Trusting God is a daily need for us all.

            Fear may come but with God, you are safe. There is nothing to fear for a surrendered life to the Lord. So whether it is about your dreams, relationship, money, work, ministry, family, and everything, trust the Lord and live a life of obedience to His Word and you will not have to worry so much about your life in general. You are safer than you could ever imagine.[15]

 

 

CHAPTER 5: NOT JUST A SOLDIER BUT A GENERAL OF GOD

 

            When in a battle, the first emotion that may take over is fear. Nonetheless, Christian life is about overcoming fear. Three hundred and sixty five times, God either said or implied “Fear not” from Genesis to Revelations.[16]

            As soldiers and generals of Christ, we are to hold on to His promise that He is with us and there is nothing to fear but Him. Fear, that is not according to the will of the Lord, is a source of destruction.[17] Hence, we should face the battles with our heads held high for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, our commander-in-chief.

            To win the battles, we are to have a good plan and it is very important that we know the tactics of the enemy. The authors gave a resolution for this by defining Satan’s target, Satan’s weapon, Satan’s purpose, and our weapon of defense.[18] Nonetheless, I believe that we should not just do defence all the time, we are to make sure that we do offense moves against the enemy. We should not be too kind to Satan.

            Satan is very keen with the thoughts of our minds, words of our mouth, and motives of our hearts.[19] We should be praying at least one  violent prayer a day and slay the enemies with the Word of God spoken by our mouth, motivated in our hearts, and proven by our deeds. Our faith in God is our shield and His truth will give us balance. His boots of peace will carry us to His ordained battlegrounds and His helmet will maintain our salvation and victory.

            God has provided everything we need in the battle and all we need is just to keep our eyes and ears open as He gives instructions. With God and yourself as a team, mountains can be moved, oceans can be parted, and the sun can stand still. All these are possible if we pursue a life of holiness.

            “Holiness is not external dressing but inward moral attitudes and heart condition.”[20] Jesus pursued holiness even as a man, setting an example for us. He values holiness for God is holy. As children of God and as originally created in His image, we were originally perfect and holy. God wants us to be restored and He is able to do this through His Son Jesus Christ.

            Now as the blood of Christ has already washed away our sins, we stand righteous before God, who cannot actually look at any pigment of sin. We can only stand clean and bright before Him because of Jesus Christ our Savior.

            As our mediator, Christ should be followed in our lives. He hates sin that is why He died for it so we will be saved. Now as we receive Him and follow Him, we should also hate sin as He did and still does. We are to pursue holiness and it is quite a huge battle everyday to defy the temptations set by ourselves and the enemy. But again, we are warriors who are fighting winning battles because the sovereign God is the one fighting for us.

            Battles can be won when it is led by God. Every success is dependent on how intimate you are with the Lord.[21] Hence, relationship with the commander is the priority.

           

CHAPTER 6: EMPOWERED AND ANNOINTED TO PARTNER WITH GOD

 

            “Without the supernatural empowerment of the Lord nothing will be accomplished but works of the flesh manufactured by man’s good ideas.”[22] So how do we remain empowered by the Lord and not by our own limited capabilities?

            I would agree with what the authors said when the key is to imitate Christ. The early Church had her original name as “The Way” as called by the Church herself. But later, people around them called them Christians in an offensive way because they are followers of Jesus Christ. Now that would be the most beautiful accusation from any persecutor. I also pray, as the authors do, that the world would accuse us of being like Jesus.[23]

            Five evidences of Spiritual awakening were mentioned in the book[24]: First is the “new desire for serious prayer and fasting, Second is “a renewed passion to win the lost”, Third is “God’s grace resulting to healing in relationship”, Fourth is “God’s grace resulting to an attitude and atmosphere of spontaneous giving and sacrifice”, and Fifth is “God’s grace leading to the development of God’s divine strategy or method to fulfil the great commission to the world and global mission that sends out missionaries.”

            All of these were Jesus’ agenda even from Genesis up to His 3-year ministry and as passed on to the early Church up to the current Church. With God’s on-going agenda being accomplished, I pray that we join Him until His second coming.

 

CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION

HOW IT APPLIES TO MY CURRENT MINISTRY

 

            There are five opportunities for change, as advised towards the end of the book. I would like to shred it out and assess the ministry that I am involved with today.

 

A Time of Crisis: “ This is a time where something has to be done..”

This is such a time where things happen so fast and we have to double time as well. Christ is coming soon as the birth pains of the promised time are rampantly felt. Moral crisis is rising, poverty is escalating, world power, prominence, and idols take the throne in many hearts of people. Something has to be done. While the world gets worse, the children of the Lord should do better.

A Time of Pastoral Change: “thinking about the future of the church”

Where is the church headed to? This should be a constant question to answer every week or even everyday. As a head of an outreach, I should be burdened more and more about the destination of the flock that is assigned to me. Where am I leading them. I am indeed accountable to them and to God. It may seem fearful to lead because it is hard to make mistakes as they depend on me. But this just means that I must depend on God and not on myself at all. It is also my responsibility to redirect your dependence from me to the Lord. Jesus is our cornerstone who will make us stable, strong, and united.

A Time of Budget preparation: “rethinking of priorities and direction”

It is time to also start teaching them more about giving. God is a gracious God. He gave all that He can give when actually, us the worshippers are the one to give to Him. Learning from His generous heart, the church should be able to give to the Lord generously and joyfully. “Giving until it hurts” is not the goal but “giving until it won’t hurt anymore” while you give your all in all.

A Time of revival: “refreshing.. new opportunities.. new approaches in the ministry.”

There are some adjustments to be done in the church especially this time that we seem to moving forward so slowly. There has to be some baggage that should be given up so we can enter the “needle hole”. These may be pride, insecurities, bad thoughts, distrust, or even self-centeredness. We are to be cleansed and the system should be reprogrammed by God’s grace.

A Time of Planning: “development of long range plans for the future.”

Since we are leading a generation, we need to project the impact that we are going to make to the succeeding generations. The roadmap should be well established and the goal should be carefully studied according to our context. Most importantly, the plans should be missional in nature as our Lord give us the bigger picture of His agenda in the world too.

For whatever is to be accomplished from this point on, may the Lord Jesus Christ be glorified. I pray that changes happen in my own life first, and then to my family, church, friends, adversaries, and the world. God is good.

 

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[1] Ephesians 6:10-20, verse 13 says: “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”.

[2] P.13.

[3] P.14.

[4] Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”.

[5] 1 John 5:4 “ for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”.

[6] P.26-32.

[7] P.41.

[8] One example is King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26:3-21. He used to be pleasing the eyes of the Lord but later, he became prideful and took over the priests in the temple. Even though it is not lawful for him to enter the sanctuary, he still did and became prideful before the priests of the Lord. Because of his behaviour, he was punished by the Lord, who gave Him leprosy until the day of his death.

[9] Lamentations 3:22-23

[10] P.79.

[11] P.79.

[12] P.87-95

[13] P.96

[14] P.105.

[15] Hold on to the promise of God in the book of Revelation, chapter one: “Do not be afraid: I am the First and the Last, I am He who lives and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and Death.

[16] P.107.

[17] From page 107 to 108, the authors pointed some Biblical characters who were victims of fear. When Adam and Eve feared being inferior. When Elijah ran from Jezebel. When David ran from his son Absalom. When King Saul lost his ministry anointing because of fear of people. When Peter denied Jesus. When Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus. All the failures that came after all their fears did not do anything good for then or anyone at all.

[18] P.111.

[19] P.112-115.

[20] P.120.

[21] P.151. “All that you accomplish and achieved in ministry is related to how well you know or how intimate you are with Him.

[22] P.208

[23] P.212.

[24] P.212-213.