6 Mar 2015 by Kim Yung CM –
Acts Church recently celebrated their 15th Anniversary on the 1st of March 2015. Their combined service at Sunway Convention centre began earlier than usual at 9.30 a.m. and continued on till noon. They kicked off their birthday party with a wonderful “Stomp” inspired performance by their talented percussion team followed closely with a time of praise and worship. On that anointed day, Pastor Jim Yost, a missionary who served 30 years in Indonesia, (17 years of which was spent with a tribe in Irian Jaya, now called the Papua Province, the Indonesian side of the New Guinea island) shared an encouraging word to the congregation of Acts.
“How would Jesus disciple the nations if He was here?” asked Jim as he began directing everyone to the scripture according to the book of Acts chapter 18. According to the book, both results and opposition go hand in hand; you don’t get quick results as there’s always a lot of opposition and through the oppositions God does great things. Paul the apostle was afraid but the Lord encouraged him, this tells us that while doing the works of God it is okay to be afraid. “It’s okay to be afraid because that means that you’re out of your comfort zone, you’re trying to do things that you’ve never done before; you’re being thrush out like the mother eagle pushing her babies out of the nest and they learn to fly as they’re dropping to the ground” said Jim.
9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God. (Acts 18:9)
“Afraid is okay, but a spirit of fear is not okay. They are two different things” shared Jim. Humans are created in God’s image therefore the emotions we bear were obtained by God, fear being one of them. God cares for us and fears for our well-being if we’re heading towards troubled waters. The fear we’ve been given makes our blood pump and pushes us to do something about it. “Fear is good when it is released into action” said Jim. He began illustrating this by sharing how he saw his son running in a field towards an open well that he might fall into. Jim feared for his son and put his fear into action by speedily running out of the house and snatching his son before he fell into the well. “Fear is good when it is released into action but when fear is not released into action it becomes a spirit of fear that cripples people. Respond in a courage’s spirit even if you don’t feel like it!” said Jim encouragingly.
The faith is promise of the harvest of that when you believe a lot you get a lot and when you believe a little you get a little. This applies to every aspect of your life!
Who gets CHOSEN by Jesus?
- Those who are closest to Him
“This was the one pre-requisite for being kicked out into the harvest field” said Jim. Jesus sent out those who were close to Him to reap the harvest because where the harvest is where His heart is. In regards to those who get chosen, Jesus wants his chosen ones to constantly look forward, forgetting past failures or successes. Last year’s failures or successes were for last year, this is a brand new year to start fresh with God.
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. (Luke 10:1-4)
62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62)
Take the Church out to the Field and Dream Big for God
The Lord began directing Jim to build a movement of revival across Indonesia; building a “Church Without Walls”. The same way there is a need for everyone to take Church out to the field and build a “Church without walls”. This is made clear from the very first verse in Luke 10:1 as cited above. Luke 10:4 thereafter as cited above tells us that we need to leave everything behind and go make ourselves dependant on other people. This allows you to better connect with other people. Let’s say you’re heading for a tsunami relief camp, “If you go with all of your stuff the person that God has prepared will not show themselves, they’ll just fold their hands and let you to all the work. When you make yourself dependant on other people, the hungry ones will show themselves quicker” shared Jim.
“Don’t ask people to come to us. We go to where they are” shared Jim. This also means that the Church needs to re-examine all Church activities and ask if they really contribute to the Harvest for the Kingdom of God. Otherwise, they need to be reprioritised. “There is no such thing as social work, it’s all spiritual work.” shared Jim. We need to enlarge the size of our dreams because how big we dream determines our actions as “You will live your life according to your belief of the harvest” It’s a time of harvest, step out in faith and go forth to reap the harvest that God has set before you!
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Note: All Photo credit goes to Actsposure, the photography ministry of Acts Church.
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