Restoring Foundations for the Future – Part 1

“We’re entering into a time of restoration,” said Ps Peter Tsukahira — director of Mt Carmel School of Ministry in Israel — at the Trinity Methodist Church here in Kuching. Ps Tsukahira was in Kuching for two nights sharing his message- Israel roots, Kingdom fruits. Restoration means going back to God’s original plan and purposes. The Apostle Peter at Jerusalem said in Acts 3:

Acts 3:20-21

And that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.

"I personally believe we’ve entered that period now; we are in the beginning of that period of restoration of all things. The greatest signal we’ve entered this time of restoration is preparing the church for the return of the Lord, the restoration of Israel to the land that God promised to the people of Israel, which took place in our generation and the restoration of the gospel to the Jewish people," he said.

Earlier, Ps Tsukahira was showing slides of Jewish people and their Arab brothers worshiping Jesus in His own land and language for the first time in 2000 years.

 

 

When it comes to Mt Carmel, we don’t even know whether there was a Messianic congregation on top of the Mt Carmel. That congregation was probably the first New Testament community in that area of Israel for thousands of years since the days of Elijah.

“We’re in this time of restoration where God is moving powerfully to restore the gospel to the Jewish people and restoring the Hebraic biblical roots to the church. It’s bringing the power of real change and the reason God is restoring these things is He’s preparing us to be ready for His return,” he said.

Everyone seems to have their own take on what is going to happen at the end times. Most of them are speculations.

“Please don’t try to ask me the identity of the anti-Christ, or who the two witnesses are, or when the 144 000 will appear. These things are really still in the future and they will be revealed to us,” he said.

“But one thing I do know is the return of the Lord and I am convinced of two things,” he said, “One is that Jesus is going to return. And when He returns, He comes back as a bridegroom for a bride,” he said. “That I can tell you in deep confidence, that we are the bride.”

Once you know that, between the present time and the Lord's coming, we have to start living as a bride. We as a bride must be spotless or without blemish. A bride is unified and characterized by love.

“I believe that some things have to change in us between now and the return of the Lord if we’re going to be the bride that He’s returning for. This is not speculation or theory; it’s the basics of the bible. That helps us to see the direction we’re going," he said.

“Secondly, The Lord is coming back as a King for a Kingdom. Now, a Kingdom is a domain ruled by the King,” he said.

Our King rules in a lawful way. We need to understand His laws, we need to be walking in the spirit of His laws and we need to be producing the fruits of His work within us. We want our King to be pleased with us when He returns.

With those two goals in mind, we want to move in that particular direction. But the problem is that many things we accept as normal will need to be changed. And if we want to reach that goal, we have to be ready for change.

 

 

Ps Tsukahira told the story of how the company Kodak became bankrupt in January 2012 because they decided not to move into the digital era earlier, although they were the first to come up with the digital camera in 1975. It was a new paradigm then that required the company to change their focus. Their refusal to change became costly as competitors went ahead to revolutionized this new concept.

“Often a new paradigm appears before the old paradigm becomes obsolete,” he said adding, “Those who vigorously oppose the new paradigm are those who are successful in the old ones.”

“This revelation of Israel, what God is doing, represents a new paradigm of the church,” he said. It is a reconnection with parts of the Bible that have been there for thousands of years but in the last 2000 years, the church has chosen to ignore.

"It has a potential to prepare us to be a bride that is able to welcome back the bridegroom, it has a potential to form us into a Kingdom that’s ready to receive her King. But it means things will have to change," he said.

In the last 15 years, Ps Tsukahira found that the people who are hardest to reach are the people who are most successful in the church world today. The people who are easiest to reach are people who are looking at dysfunctional society. India has the fastest growing Christians in our generation, there are 100,000's of them every year pushing their way to Christ; all of them are the first generation. They see a dysfunctional culture – criminality, corruption, poverty and dirt. No matter what they believed, they are fed up with the status quo.

“When they hear God rules a lawful Kingdom, God wants to change and transform culture. More than religion, God cares for everybody. God’s family is a Kingdom of priests in all the nations, everybody has a calling, everybody has a gifting and everybody is accountable; when they hear that, they go, ‘that’s what I want!’"

“What they need is a gospel that reforms. You go to Africa, where 100,000's people turn to God, that’s what they want,” he said.

In countries where they have cathedrals, countries with millions of dollars, or countries with high-tech buildings, they are not going to be that interested in connecting with their Hebrew roots.

“But friends, this is a game changer. Because Jesus is coming back, He comes back as a bridegroom for a bride, as a King for a Kingdom,” he told.

Anything that does not focus on these two goals is like wood that’s going to be burnt.

“We need to be about our Father’s business and moving in that direction.”

This is not about us making everything perfect but it’s about us taking our two little talents and investing them. Be ready to give them back.

“It’s about us knowing the laws of God and walking along in the spirit of those laws. Going out and changing things for the people around us,” he said.

Christianity is not a club. It’s a movement of service. We’re going out empowered by our King. We change everything.