6 Aug 2013 by Donna Uning CM-
“When I say this is a game changer, what I realized is that the Kingdom of God does not start in the New Testament. When I discovered the Kingdom of God, it was there in the book of Exodus,” Pr Peter Tsukahira said.
In the second part of this article, Pr Tsukahira continued with his message, Restoring Foundations for the Future.
“It’s Israel! I’m telling you, it’s a paradigm shift,” he told after 40 years as a Christian believer, 30 years as a pastor, and having been to hundreds of services in the United States, Asia and Israel.
“None of them told me that Israel is the Kingdom of God; and when I saw that, it changed the game for me,” he said. “The answers were just jumping off the pages of the bible.”
God gives us law and assignment. He’s ruling the marketplace, education, healthcare, families, entertainment, the calendar, foods, culture – He rules everything. That’s the Kingdom of God.
“I’ve been telling people for all of these years the Kingdom of God is my church,” he said. “You better move into a new paradigm. Start telling them the whole gospel.”
The church is the heart of the Kingdom; the heart that pumps people in – new believers, unbelievers and get them to be believers. We equip them, heal them, disciple them, prepare them and pump them out.
“That’s a healthy heart,” said Pr Peter who desire that heart for his church for many years.
“Because I thought the rules of the game were having more people. If there were more people, my associates woul say, ‘you are succeeding.’ When there are more people, it gets more intimidating and they don’t say anything to you,” he added.
In America, 5000 is a mega church but in Korea, 5000 still does not register in the radar.
"How many people come to your church? That’s all people wanted to know," he said.
“A large heart is a disease. The heart is vital; it’s there to serve the body. We’re chosen not for ourselves, we’re chosen for them – the unbelievers and the rest of society. We’re the salt and the light,” he added.
We as believers have the privilege to know and believe Jesus Christ, and also to be chosen for Heaven not for ourselves but for the non-believers. The church is supposed to equip, train, prepare, send their believers to go out in their prayer, so that they can go and change the world.
“As a pastor, if all I leave for the next generation are only numbers, then that’s not enough because numbers go up and down,” said Pr Peter. “That can’t be God’s parameter for success, it’s not God’s definition.”
There is a legacy that we as Christians want to give to the next generation. We are accountable to our fruitfulness.
“The best thing we can do is to be really ready for a change,” he said. “Change is uncomfortable and frightening for some people. But for other people, that’s the most exciting thing they will do.”
“Our God is a God who is always alive. He’s the most interesting, most fascinating and most creative person. He creates out of nothing and He always creates. He never have to do the same thing again. From the beginning until the end of time, no two snowflakes will ever be alike. No two human beings will ever be alike," said Pr Peter.
There’s a scene in Revelation where the 21 elders cast their crowns before the Lord; they are worshiping 24/7.
“I realized it’s probably not a computer program that keeps them doing that. Why do they do that? How can they keep worshiping?”
“I think as a personal revelation, those elders were so in love with God, every moment they see some fantastic thing, so wonderful, beautiful, awe-inspiring – they just worship with all their hearts. The next moment, they see something else. They’re just caught up in the wonder of this unending being, this creativity that’s pouring from the throne of God. Every moment, something new,” he explained.
Heaven does not resemble a vacation or a resort, but it would make everything you experience in this life like a carbon copy or low-resolution photo.
“Every once in a while, God has to shake us up,” he said.
“Because we turned the church into a club, we turned the truths of God into a tradition. We may get stuck because that’s where our sinful human nature – we’re threatened by this kind change. It causes too much exertion. But our God is moving, and He has purposes to accomplish, and He will return,” he added.
The bible says there’re so many things that need to come to pass before He returns.
Jeremiah was a great prophet and there was a day God told him that He had something important to tell, ‘It’s not a word for you personally; it’s a word for your nation. I’m going to speak to you on behalf of all your people.’ He asked Jeremiah to see a potter working on clay.
‘Aren’t people like the clay in my hands? Aren’t I not the potter? Don’t I have the right to change you? For any reason if I do not see something that is completely right, couldn’t I just start again with you to make you into something that is more powerful, more beautiful, and more useful?’ This is a powerful word that God is speaking through Jeremiah to all of us.
“Aren’t we the clay? Aren’t our churches the clay? He’s the potter. He wants to change the way we live. He wants to change the way we do church. If He wants to change us, would it be alright with us or would we object? ‘This is the way it has always been. Oh yes, that’s awesome the way You do it but this is the way we do it," Pr Peter explained.
“Would we object if God says it’s good but it’s not good enough? Would it be alright if He took us out of His wheel, pound us a little bit so that He could put us back to where we were?” That was the question God was asking Israel.
And through Israel, He’s asking us the question. Jesus said if you want the new wine, you’ve got to put them in new wineskins. New wine goes into new wineskins, they can stretch, change, expand – new wineskin can handle it.
Old wineskins, even though they were once new, they get old, stiff, tough, and crack. Then new wine gets lost.
“Jesus said you got to get new wineskins, He’s not teaching us about leather and wine. It’s the spirit of the living God,” he said. If you want the spirit of the living God, you’ve got to be the kind of person who can change, stretch, and flex. Our churches should be new wineskins.
“There’s a time when God’s changing the paradigm. The church needs to change their emphasis, re-focus and retrain. We’re entering this period of waiting for the return of the bridegroom on the path that leads us to the Kingdom. Everything else is a waste of your time, everything else will not bear fruit, and everything else will not receive praise from our King,” he said.
Let’s be the bride, whatever it takes, whatever the costs. Pr Peter aims to be a bride without spot and blemish, whereby he will make Jesus his King and allow Him to rule by His Word and by His Spirit. These are the things that would last.
“When I stand before the Lord, when my ministry is over, He’s not going to ask me how many people attended your last service. He’s going to say, did you tell them the truth? What did they do after you showed them? Did they have fruit? Because if they have fruit, you will have fruit. That’s why I’m speaking to you the way I’m speaking to you today," Pr Peter said.
“Let’s change the world, or at least that part of the world that’s right around us. If all the Christians in this city make that decision in one generation, in the nation you live in today, you will be able to speak to your sons and daughters, ‘Here’s what we’re handing off to you, that’s what we gave in our generation; you take it further and make it better.’ Really give them something to hold on, you have a legacy, you have the inheritance you can really pass on,” he ended with prayer.
Ps Peter Tsukahira is from Carmel Assembly in Haifa, Israel. He is a pastor and author. He leads the School of Ministry’s study tours in Israel.
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