This past week has been a very difficult week. So much so that I referred to it as the week from hell! I have had many bad weeks, in fact I have had worse weeks, but this one was just so intense. However, when Friday came, I remembered Tony Campolo's message "It's Friday, but Sunday's coming!" These thoughts made me looked forward to Sunday morning at New Life City Church, and I was not to be disappointed.
Sunday Morning: The worship again was amazing. I do not necessarily mean the music and the singing were amazing, although they were up there! I mean the worship, the actual worship coming from our hearts to God was amazing. I stepped onto the platform with some apprehension, not only because of the difficult week I was emerging from, but I knew I had things to say that could so easily be misunderstood. However, from the moment I began to speak there was such a freedom. So much so I only got through the first of three points in the message, but this turned to out to be more than enough for those present who broke in spontaneous applause when I finished, which is something reserved normally for visiting speakers! They did not applaud because I had finally finished, but because the word truly hit the spot.
The Message: was "part two" of last week's message, "It's Time for Breakthrough". Based on 2 Sam. 5. 17 - 20, when David was anointed king and the Philistines rose up against him, which caused David to go to his stronghold where he met with God; where he heard from God and from there he went out and defeated the Philistines.
The main point of the message was that "Breakthrough will come when you deal with the Philistines", i.e. the people and the circumstances that rise up against you. I began by explaining that for the first 10 years of my Christian life I had no enemies, but the moment I became a Pastor the Philistines rose up against me. They rose up in my home church that had supported us through our years at Bible College; they rose up in my first church and then again in my second church. There were not many, but just enough to make things difficult. They were like the stone in the shoe that was sung about by the Scorpions, "When your world comes tumbling down, you better find a way around, cause no one else but you, can find the stone inside your shoe". And sometimes you've got to take the shoe off and give it a good shake until the stone just falls out.
One of the things I learned early in the ministry is that the appointing and the anointing of God does not only bring blessing, but also brings opposition from people and from adverse circumstances. But if you truly want breakthrough, you've got to breakthrough the Philistines on your knees and in obedience to the Word of God, for that's what David did.
The Stronghold: David's first response was to go to the stronghold; not to hide, but to meet with God. I then asked the question, "Where's your stronghold? Where's your secret place?" At this point it seemed like the Holy Spirit just took the message to another level as I directly confronted the people with my belief that most of them, as most Christians, do not have a stronghold! So that when the Philistines rise up against us, instead of running to our stronghold, we run to our weak place! Here again the Holy Spirit took us to another level as we began to unveil the weak places that include things like "the fridge" that not only contains "comfort food", but "alcohol". The weak place could be in the pockets of Christians so that when they need to feel better or they need a little pick me up, they just reach inside and light up. The weak place could be in the drugs cabinet; not illegal drugs, but legal ones prescribed by the doctor but are just as addictive and sometimes as lethal. And so because most do not have a stronghold, but most do have weak places, when the Philistines and the adverse circumstances rise up against us, we run to the weak places.
David went to the stronghold, because he had one. When Paul and Silas were in prison, they got into their stronghold of worship and had a praise party at midnight. But what do we do? We get into our weak place and invite others to come and have a pity party with us! We often do this on Facebook! But it is only from the stronghold we can move out and face the Philistines.
I finished by encouraging everyone to establish a stronghold, a personal secret place, where they can meet with God on a daily basis. I also encouraged those present to look to the church as a stronghold where they can assemble together for fellowship, for sustenance, and for equipping that would enable them to go beyond the doors and breakthrough the Philistines.
Conclusion: I believe God would have us all take this message to heart. The other points we did not get to today will be covered next week.
Weekly Church Programme: Hopefully you are all aware of the different events that take place each week. I am therefore appealing to you once again to support the relevant activities whether it's the Thursday night Bible Study and Prayer Time; GLOW; FIST; JC's and Revolution. These are "the main" church activities. Everything else should be complementary and supportive to these activities and to the overall life and ministry of the church.
Prayer: Please continue to pray for Julie Scott in hospital with pneumonia; for Heather Prentice as she continues recuperate from her operation; for others in the church who are going through some specific things, but do not ned mentioned in detail. Pray also for the family of Tracey Strain who sadly passed away during the week with cancer.
Thanks again to everyone who works hard for the development and advancement of New Life City Church.
We know that New Life City Church is not the perfect church, but with your help we can tick a few more boxes.
Have a great week. Stay focused; stay strong; and keep being a God-influence.
Pastor Jack
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