In September 2006, Pr Ryan Foo started a church with just 6 people. In 2015, just nine years later, the church has grown. Today, there are close to 150 closely-knitted people worshipping in this church, many of them young vibrant people who are really on fire for God.
What is the secret to this rapid growth? Last Sunday, on the 13th of September 2015, the Harvest Generation celebrated their 9th anniversary with the theme Moving Forward. Pr Ryan shared a visionary message on the theme of expansion.
All of us seek for comfort, he shared, but comfort is not all it cuts out to be. Sooner or later, we will come across obstacles and challenges in our lives. In those moments, many of us will realize that there is more to life.
As Christians, we have been invested with purpose by God when we were adopted by Him. Through obedience to this purpose, we come to our fulfillment and a higher level of our walk with God and the true meaning of life. Very often in the process, however, we will go through the stretching process, and many people fall by the wayside.
It is so important and encouraging to remember that while comfort is momentary, the rewards of the Lord are eternal. Pr Ryan shared from a verse in Isaiah 54:2-3 in which God directs His people to enlarge their tents, stretch out the curtains of their dwellings, do not spare, to lengthen their cords, and to strengthen the stakes.
In just these 2 verses, five principles about expansion can be gained. To set the context, in the days of Abraham, the people of Israel were living in tents. Years later, in Isaiah’s time, God did not forget the Abrahamic Covenant he made with Abraham.
To the Israelites, their tents were dwelling places. It had significance to them. They provided shelter, security, and comfort. While in the modern-day we have lost this context from tents, God’s call about expansion was essentially about growth. When we grow, we will enlarge our capacities, and there will be an increase in sanctuary and security.
There are five things to focus on. The first (‘enlarge’) is about vision. The Church must have a vision, individually and collectively. We cannot just go through the motions, Pr Ryan conveyed, and we cannot expect things to just drop from Heaven. Our God is not a God of small things; He has an eternal purpose and this purpose is huge in magnitude. As His people, we are called to a vision in aligning ourselves with this purpose.
In Genesis 12:1-3, God gave Abraham the call to go to the land he had been promised. But though Abraham obeyed, he did not see this promise come to pass straight-away. In fact, at that time, God’s promises about offspring seem an absurdity to him. In Genesis 15:2, Abraham had become discouraged. He was in fact mourning that his inheritance seemed destined for the son of another person in his house. God had to take him outside to count the stars (Genesis 15:5-6).
This is how many descendants Abraham would have according to God’s covenant. God’s promises are not small nor do they return void. This passage in Genesis and the call to ‘enlarge’ speaks about vision-casting; finding God and allowing Him to open our eyes so that we can see things from God’s perspective.
The second is increasing our capacity (“stretching out”). Our increase in capacity is based on our availability, not on our ability. It speaks about having more of God in our lives, growing together in God. We see this powerfully in Acts 2, where the disciples’ capacity expanded exponentially because of the Spirit’s indwelling. It is vital that we have the Holy Spirit in our lives, Pr Ryan imparted.
Stretching out will very often cause discomfort, but God’s faithfulness is eternal. This is why a willing heart is, one that is prepared to be shaped and formed by God, is essential, more so than age or busyness. We need to hold on to our vision. Never think that we have enough of stretching with God, because there is so much more in God.
‘Do not spare’ speaks about generosity. Our blessings should be motivated by giving, not getting. Be faithful to God, Pr Ryan communicated. He never abandons us, and we are blessed to be a blessing. Use it to bring blessing into the lives of others. As a Church, we must desire to be more and more generous. Generous in our financial giving, in our heart of service, in our care for others.
Fourthly, why were the Israelites directed to ‘lengthen the cords of the tent’? This is about putting things into order, for the tent comes into shape by having its cords lengthened. In order to expand, we must first organize our lives. We must have disciplined lives not lazy ones.
Because mess complicates our lives, we need to learn how to simplify our lives. Do not hold grudges, and do not go for stuff that is added baggage in our walk with God. When there are conflicts, we cannot move forward.
There is also advantage in developing an ability to learn from our mistakes. How important is God in our lives? When there is internal conflict that gets in the way of our relationship with God, it is extremely crucial that we address it.
Finally, ‘strengthening the stakes’ is one of the most important elements in expanding. This aspect speaks about anchoring. In the context of the tent, the bigger the tent, the larger the pegs, and the deeper they go. And when the wind blows, the tent would be able to stand.
What do we anchor on? We anchor on the Word of God. The deeper we grow in the Lord, the more capacity we will have, but the larger also the challenges that may come. But though the winds of challenge may blow, we will not be overcome because we are deeply rooted in God and His Word.
Christ must be at the center of everything in the Christians’ life, for He is the reason for the Church. The future depends right now on how important Christ is to us, Pr Ryan imparted.
The Christian life is not merely about excitement, etc.. We don’t just exist for ourselves (Matthew 5:13-16). Each and every one of us who have been saved by Christ has a responsibility to be an influence. And in these 5 aspects are the secrets to our growth and expansion of influence.
Isaiah 54:2-3New King James Version (NKJV)
2 “Enlarge the place of your tent,
And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings;
Do not spare;
Lengthen your cords,
And strengthen your stakes.
3 For you shall expand to the right and to the left,
And your descendants will inherit the nations,
And make the desolate cities inhabited.
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Jason Law
NOTE: All pictures of Harvest Generation Church property of and kindly contributed by Harvest Generation Church.
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