DRIVE THE CHANGE

DRIVE THE CHANGE

Victor Choudhrie

25 Steps to transit from being barren to a millionaire of souls.

1. Shift from church culture to kingdom culture: “The whole world lies under the wicked one” and the church is the only vehicle designed by God for advancing His Kingdom, demonstrated by restored missional communities of love, joy, justice, peace, security and beauty. If it is not advancing the Kingdom wherever its members are scattered in the city, among the lost, then it is preaching “another gospel”. Yeshua came preaching the Kingdom and commanded us to preach the gospel of the Kingdom in all the world. This church needs radical overhauling and not a cosmetic job. For Kingdom advance, rewrite the job description of the chaplain from that of a pulpit orator, sacrament dispenser and tithe gatherer, to one who identifies the gifts and talents of all those on the pews and equip them to be two legged temples of the living God whose business is to catch two legged fish. He is a shepherd who feeds his flock to be healthy and reproducing, by encouraging them to practice the priesthood of all believers with authority to baptize, break bread and equip fishers of men. He and his flock must model an inclusive flat church structure wherein everyone submits to one another, prays one for another, serves one another, exhorts, forgives and loves each other, and fifty more “one another’s” so that, “The world may know that you are My disciples.”  Kingdom cannot be experienced alone, but together with one another. 1 John 5:19; Matt. 4:17, 19; 24:14; Galatians 1:8; 2 Cor. 6:16; 11:4; John 13:34-35; Eph. 4:11,12; 5:21; 1Peter 2:5,9

2. Move away from corporatized, commercialized, fossilized, ritualized, traditionalized, monopolized, politicized and over organized Christianity which needs to democratized, decentralized and diversified; to gathering in simple organic ‘houses of peace’, which are biblical, kingdom oriented, customizable, effective, productive, flexible and free. ‘God does not dwell in temples made with human hands’; rather He dwells in human hearts. You are the mobile walking and talking temples of the living God, with a maximum of organism and a minimum of organization. With growing radicalism and hostility in many countries, planting below the radar, invisible churches that quietly multiply, is not only wisdom but is the only option available. Do not take  only Christians for the bus ride but also invite seekers in your house gatherings to launch a miraculous “houses of prayer” planting movement among those who are perishing. The job of the shepherd is not just managing the congregation but engaging them in the secular world to catapult not-yet-Christians into the kingdom of His dear Son. Anything less is preaching the truth but not the whole truth. Knowing the truth and not practicing the truth makes you a hypocrite. The core motivation of your life is to share Christ, the image of the invisible God, with other fellow creatures. This is not optional but obligatory. Leaders are multi-taskers who spot talents, mentor and empower others, which means giving responsibility, authority and resourcing them. Teaching is not transferring knowledge but helping them to discover biblical truths and obeying them.  Coaches demonstrate hands on discipling skills, while elders build character and together they impart vision and passion for elevating the degraded people into saints of the Most High God. Luke 10:5-9; Matt. 10:11-13; Acts 7:48-49; 17:11; 2 Cor. 2:14-17

3. Phase out programmed Sunday ‘services’ with lots of feathers but not much chicken. Actualize informal, small interactive “meatings” designed to proliferate into every home in the city. The Bride of Christ must have intimacy with her Lord every day, not only for a couple of hours a week, lest she become unfaithful. However, discourage cross-gender disciple-making, lest chemistry fouls things up. Christ, the creator only planted the Garden of Eden as a model and left the rest of the earth incomplete for His Bride, to complete the Creation Mandate, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it and have dominion over it.” Honor the Lord with first fruits and not with the leftovers. The church exists to make every home a center of vibrant spiritual activity and not replace it. If Christian families implemented this simple mandate, the great divide between the religious elite and the unwashed would disappear. It needed only eight people, Noah and his family, to populate the whole earth. Yeshua did not come to start a religion but to restore relationship with the Father. Do not try failed methods of doing church, mired in status quo, but initiate strategies and processes to ignite a cascading movement by being creative and innovative. Look at a lost person, as cat looks at a mouse, and you will get him. You do not need a lost sheep’s permission to rescue it. Believe that God is going to work a work among the nations through you, which will leave you utterly amazed. Our God is God of second chance and He can use you as you are and where you are. Everyone can reach someone. You are not just a nobody, but wired up to be a discipler of nations. “Seek the Lord while he may be found and do the works that he sent you to do for the night comes when no one can do any work.” Acts 2:46-47; Matt. 16:19; Col. 1:15-20; Heb.3:13; Gen.1:28; Prov. 3:9; Hab. 1:5; Isaiah 55:6; John 9:4

4. Replace legalistic tithing with extravagant sharing. Tithe was never cash but always “food” to be eaten; the firstling of animals, corn, first fruits, wine and oil etc. If you came from a long distance, you had to buy an animal at the temple market as gold or silver coins could not be offered at the altar for atonement. Gifts and offerings can be in cash or kind, but must be offered at the apostles’ feet for the apostolic agenda of the church, which is to crush Satan’s head under your feet, and not for constructing buildings or other extra-biblical programs. Yeshua did not say, “I am the way, the truth and the program and no one goes to the Father without my program.” Tithe is now “Breaking bread from house to house” and eaten with gladness of heart to multiply Messiah, the bread of life that came down from heaven. Harness the enormous financial resources, hospitality and goodwill available in Christian homes. Why give only a tenth for the salvation of others when Yeshua gave hundred percent on the cross for your salvation? We no longer Tithe dutifully, but cheerfully invest abundantly because the measurement of success is not the amount of money you made but how bountiful harvest you have reaped for eternity as steward of that money. God first, family second and job last, will set your priorities right and God will supply all your need according to his riches in glory. Reversing it results in a dysfunctional family and a lost paradise. Yeshua made a full and final sacrifice for our atonement and the best way to add value to that is to cover a multitude of your sins, by saving sinners. Deut. 8:17-18; 14:23-27; Luke 6:38; Acts 4:34-35; John 6:51,58; Rom. 16:20; Mal. 3:10; 2 Cor. 9:6,7; Matt. 6:33; 1Tim. 5:8; Phil. 4:18,19; Jam. 4:13; 5:20

5. Demythologize wafer-and-sip sacrament of the Lord’s Supper and instead promote breaking of bread with simple Agape meals (love feasts) from house to house, that believers take with glad hearts, ‘and the Lord added to His numbers daily’. The Lord served roast lamb, bitter herb, bread and wine, not in a synagogue but ‘in a house’ for the Last Supper. Melchizedek served bread and wine to Abraham in the middle of the road. Father God had lunch with Abraham, the Father of Gentiles, under a tree and discussed Sarah’s pregnancy, Sodom’s ruin and Lot’s rescue plan. On the day of Passover, an Israeli slave with zero identity, sacrificed a lamb in Egypt and splattered its blood on the door posts, he became a protector, provider and a priest of his family and corporately a kingdom of Priests. The greatest sin of the church is to keep you blind and ignorant about your authority, rights, privileges and responsibilities as a priest to your family and a royal priest to the nations, thus degrading you into a non-functional Layperson. Like us, Yeshua also saw Zacchaeus, the tax collector and the Samaritan woman as sinners but did not stop at that but turned them into valuable kingdom resource and game changers. Not fulfilling your role as a royal priest who offers lost sheep as spiritual sacrifice, amounts to taking the Lord’s Supper unworthily. Remember you are designed for eternity. Choices made on earth will decide where you end up in eternity. Acts 2:46-47; 20:7; 1 Cor.11:20-30; Exo. 12:8; 19:5,6; 1 Pet. 2:9; Gen Chap 18.

6. Replace professional music with speaking to each other in psalms and spiritual songs, making melody in your hearts; “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” The Holy Spirit in the apostate church has been displaced by technology. The church is a discipling hub and not a singing club. Not the ecstatic variety inside the church with lots of icing but no cake but ‘worship’ took place, not inside the Temple or the tabernacle but out in the open court, where man met with God at the altar with his sacrifice, penitence and gratitude. Worship must result in reconciliation and relational restoration with the Father. It required a Sword, the Fire (altar) and Sacrificial animals. On The Pentecost, the birthday of the church, “worship in spirit and in truth” took place in a house and not the temple, with the Sword (Word of God by Peter); the tongues of Fire (Holy Spirit) and three thousand repentant souls offered up as a living Sacrifice. The Jews worshipped God by offering four-footed sheep; the traditional church worships by offering praise of their lips by singing endless songs but the New Testament church worships God by offering the lost sheep as living sacrifice, “And the Lord adds to their numbers daily.” Not the quality of worship inside the chapel but the quality and quantity of disciples made outside the chapel that glorifies God. “Worship in truth and spirit” is no longer confined to any religious meeting or building but “from the rising of the sun to its going down, pure offering (repentant souls) and incense (prayer) will be offered up” in anyplace, where you make disciples. Gen. 22:5-7; Psalm 51:17; 2Chron. 7:12; Eph 5:19; Col 3:16; Psalm 50:14; Rom.12:1,2; 15:16; John 4: 20-24; 15:8; Acts 2:47; Malachi 1:11

7. Shift from a spectator-oriented church that dictates but does not engage; that is unsustainable and ready to implode; to an interactive, participatory, gender-neutral prophetic church, where everyone can share a psalm, a doctrine, a revelation, a tongue, a testimony, a dream or a vision; and thus unleash a disciple making movement. Spiritual maturity is not how much you know but how obedient you are in implementing, what you already know. Not using your God given tools makes you rusty, ineffective and even sinful. Making disciples and planting organic house groups is not only fun but what is more, is that they actually work. To precipitate a seismic shift, like Yeshua, find Samaritan women and demonized Gadarenes, detoxicate and dispatch them as workplace apostles (sent ones) from day one. The dragon is now driving the world by default because 99.9 percent of sincere Christians are sincerely incompetent to disciple anyone in their work places. Remember people saw David only as a shepherd boy but God saw him as a king. People saw Esther only as a slave girl but God saw her as a queen. So give up your hang ups and maximize ordinary believers using their unique gifts and talents to dethrone the enemy and populate it with the “saints” of the Most High. Saints are those who have made a covenant with God (to be a blessing to others) with a sacrifice (sanctified lost soul). Only the prayers of the saints (not all prayers), saturated with the sacrifice of broken and contrite hearts, reach the Throne of God via the Golden altar. If your prayers have been heard without intentionally making a sacrifice then it is pure grace but chances are that you did disciple someone into the kingdom. Saints do not just fold up their tents and fade away but change their tents to reign on earth for an eternity with Christ. 1 Cor.14:26-32; Luke 6:13; James 4:17; 1John 5:19; Dan. 7:18,27; Ps. 50:5; 51:17; Rev. 8:3,4; 2 Cor. 5:1-4

8. Your Lord did not preach from the same pulpit twice. Why should you? Especially as 150,000 people die every day worldwide, most of them into Christless eternity. Yeshua came to seek and to save the lost. Are you proactively seeking and saving the lost? If not, why not; when there are tens of millions that have yet to hear the gospel for the first time? After three months of fruitless exhortations in the synagogue, Paul shifted into the Hall of Tyrannus in the market place, put on his working apron, crafted tents to earn his living, as he taught his twelve Ephesian disciples, as well as his clients, the itinerant nomads, and within two years, all Asia heard the gospel. For explosive impact, invest on a few to reach many to metamorphose your mega-church into city, regional, national and even multinational networks of mini-churches. Instead of gathering under one roof, encourage multisite gatherings under thousands of roofs; just like the mega church at Jerusalem birthed thousand of mini-churches in Samaria, Antioch, Corinth, Rome and beyond that grew daily, in faith and in numbers, both in quality and quantity. The objective is to see that your country with many nations under many gods must become one nation under one God. Many nations to their peril have turned away from God in their schools, hospitals, courts, administration and media while their shepherds are slumbering. Can the little churches doctrinally go wrong? Of course they can, just as the big churches go wrong in a big way. Stay with movers and shakers. We, the seed of Abraham are blessed; “with multiplying I will multiply you and your seed will possess the gate (cities) of the enemy”. Not possessing the cities can rob you of your inheritance. Rom. 16:3-15; Acts 1:8; 16:5; 17:6; 19:8-10; 26:18; Nahum 3:18; Gen. 22:17-18

9. Do not appoint Elders who do not have the tools to convict peoples of other faiths in their tool boxes, nor send theologians with academic tags as missionaries for they know not how to make disciples. They are trained to be aquarium keepers of pretty and colorful but non-productive Sunday fish, but God is looking for those who multiply their fishes. Church is the launching pad for reaching the ends of the earth. By the time a Jew came to worship God in the temple, he had already used his tithe to feed the fatherless, clothe the naked and provide justice to the oppressed, lest God reject his sacrifice. Yeshua took worship to higher level by making it relational by asking them to go back and mend broken relationships. It is not the content of the sermon but its practical application that creates the movement. Just like fishing, discipling is a skill. If you do not use it, you lose it. Yeshua said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Being a follower of Christ (faithful member of a church) is not enough; for that is just the beginning of your spiritual journey; you must aim to graduate as a prolific fisher of men. Paul was not just a theologian but an expert fisher of men. Find coaches with fruitful ministries to implant DNA of rapid multiplication in the infertile Bride to maximize her fertility rate. A healthy mature female (Bride) implies that she is ready to have babies. Rebecca, the Bride of Isaac, was blessed by her family to have myriads (10s of 1000s) of children. The Bride of Christ must not be barren but prolifically fertile and stretch her tent to the left and to the right, to the north and to the south, reproduce millions of mini-brides and fill the earth. Remember the Bible begins and ends with a wedding. Titus 1:5-9; Matt. 4:19; 5:23,24; Gen. 24:60; Isa. 54:1-5; 58:6,7

10. Empower Women – The Lord designed His church to be gender-neutral where men and women are equal members of His Body. He ministered to women who were off limits. Mary of Magdala, a redeemed sinner, was the first apostle (sent one) to the apostles. Priscilla, Phoebe, Lydia, Apphia, Nympha and host of other women were apostles, prophets, teachers and house church facilitators. Paul never asked women (gune) to keep their mouths shut, he only asked wives (gune) not to embarrass their husbands (aner) in public but to ask them questions at home. He encouraged everyone, men and women to share psalms, teachings, revelations, testimonies and prophesy.” Yeshua’s blood removes the curse of Eve. Paul did not ask women to cover their head with a piece of cloth, but with hair. As a Jewish man, Paul covered his head with kippah (cap) all the time and wore a talit (prayer shawl) while praying. Orthodox Jewish women are not allowed to cover their head with prayer shawl or to read the Torah in public. It is criminal and they can get arrested for it. Paul asked men not to have long hair and women not to have shaved head (sign of temple prostitutes), but both women and men to have Christ as their covering. He was not setting a tradition because God does not look at the length of hair but at the heart. God formed the man from dead dust (Hebrew yatser=mould like a pot) to be filled with one purpose at a time but fashioned the woman (Hebrew banah=build) from a living rib, to be a builder of relationships. Women are the custodians of faith in any culture. One woman can reach many and many women can reach everyone. Not empowering women to make disciples, baptize and serve the Lord’s Supper, would diminish her role as a helpmeet to her real spouse (Yeshua) and disenfranchise the most productive part of the evangelistic workforce of the church. 1 Cor. 12:12; Gal. 3:27-29; 1Cor. 7:25; 11: 15,16; 14:34,35; Genesis 2:22

11. Drive the change- Start with your family. Your real marriage is to the Lord. The husband-wife-children relationship is just an earthly model to see how you make it work. If you can’t make it work, you may not be invited to the wedding banquet of the Lamb. Sons and daughters - honor your mother and father, if you want to live long. The Hebrew word kabad and the Greek word time’ for ‘honor’ means ‘making rich’ or even ‘money paid’. Providing for your aging parents’ ranks higher than paying Korban to your church. Tithing for church maintenance are neither a part of the Ten Commandments, nor a requirement in the New Testament but taking care of parents and the poor, widows, orphans, the disaffected, the marginalized and the hurting are the focus of the Scriptures because the church thrives in the broken world where people sincerely pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” and mean it. It rapidly stagnates when it starts entertaining the rich. While regular Christians seek the King without seeking the kingdom, the social activists seek the kingdom without the King. Both are deluded. The kingdom is wholistic, is here and now and advancing daily, and presumably only those who are advancing will enter the kingdom. The business of the church is to wipe away tears until there be no poor in the kingdom, not by just providing “soup kitchens” or declaring a “war on poverty program” by giving hand outs, thus creating dependency but first do “assets mapping” of gifts, talents, skills and abilities that already exist in the community and then strategically invest in restoring dignity by identifying with them and empowering them to dislodge the oppressive systems that make them poor and powerless. This is possible only through the power of the gospel.  Eph. 5:25-33; Matt. 19:23,24; James 2:5; Deut. 6:5;7; 15:4; 2 Cor. 9:6,7; Luke 4:18; Col. 3:17; Rev.19:9; Psalm 14: 6; Exo. 20:12, Mal. 4:5,6

12. Know your identity in Christ: You are an ambassador of Christ, the highest ranking representative of the government of God, wherever you are posted. You are a royal-priest­, made so by the blood of the Lamb. Dismantle ‘Reverend’ culture because only God is worth reverence; “Holy and reverend is his name” and breach the preacher-creature divide. A traffic policeman on duty without his uniform would be useless. To be effective and productive Christian during the week, make sure that the Lamb (not a church leader) is your 24X7 uniform (covering). Like Melchizedek, the royal-priest of Jerusalem (City of Peace), who served bread and wine, took a tithe and blessed Abraham, bring godly governance to your city whose builder and maker is the Lord. Do not be deluded into thinking that you elect your President or Prime minister or other political leaders. Lucifer, the father of lies, does. He told it so to Yeshua, “All these kingdoms have been given to me and I give it to whomsoever I like.” Why will he give it to anyone who will ravage his kingdom? To dethrone Lucifer, catch the vision of cloning and saturating the city with royal-priests with authority to bind the strongman, run with that vision and reign on earth. Remember every royal priest is authorized to offer sanctified lost people as mincha (bloodless sacrifice), baptize and break bread from house to house. God is not looking for shepherds who just entertain his sheep once a week but entrepreneurs who multiply his sheep daily. Be a game changer and be the change that you want to see changed. Eph. 6:20; 1 Pet.2:9; Rev.5:10; Hab.2:1-3; Isa. 9:6-7; Gen. 14:18; Hebrew 11:10; Luke 4:6,7; 22:19; Rom. 12:1; 15:16; 1Cor. 6:20; Psalm 111:9

13. Paul’s passion was to catalyze a disciples making blitz, where Christ had not been named, not just with words but with mighty signs and deeds. What is your passion? Challenge purposeless churches to enunciate a clear vision and to lay out a road map to translate that vision into action plans and set goals to ‘do greater things than these’. For supernatural harvest, minimize motivational pep talks, “holding to a form of godliness, although denying its power” and maximize supernatural healing and deliverance. The message must be both verbal and demonstrative, “And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power…” Get out of addiction to self, self-worth, individualism and consumer culture and align yourself with the King of kings and His constitution. Become relational and an obedient practitioner of your faith. You have a choice to swim alone and drown or swim together. Focus on catalyzing a rapid disciple-making blitz and not on church planting; that is His job, “I will build my church”. Christianity has no walls and no borders. The world is rapidly reaching its tipping point and ready for implosion. Armed with maps, stats and the Great Commission, go 2x2 treasure hunting, find “a person of peace”, heal the sick, cast out demons and then teach them the divine arithmetic of discipling just one soul every month, and very soon, you will have thousands of souls in your savings account. Not doing so can result in a mysterious hand appearing and writing on the wall, “ Mene, mene, tekel ufarsin”; you have been weighed on the balance and found wanting. Your kingdom has been taken away from you.” John 14:12; 2Tim 2:3:5; Rom. 15:19,20; 1 Cor. 2:4; Matt. 16:18; Acts 16:5; Luke 10:1-9; Isa. 60:22; Phil.4:17; Daniel 5:25-28

14. Most church going Christians are deluded into thinking that they are believers. To be a believer you have to carry signs (evidence, proof) of a believer? – “And these signs shall follow a believer; he shall cast out demons…and pray for the sick and they will be healed.” But a believer will not make it to heaven, if he fails to disciple the delivered. A priest when he offered incense at the golden altar was acutely aware that the ingredients came from many nations, so in effect he was a priest to the nations. Yeshua did not choose you to be just a member of the church, but to be a priest to the nations. Unglue from the pews all those lukewarm Churchians who sit, soak and stagnate, for the Lord is crying out, “Let my people go” and send them to heal the sick, raise the dead, tread on snakes and scorpions (expel demons), bind the ‘strongman’, plunder his possessions, demolish the gates of Hell, and advance the kingdom. By the way demons do not live in stone idols but colonize minds and ravage people’s world views. Do not depend on horses and chariots but in the power of Yeshua Messiah, put on the whole armor of God and doggedly pursue demon demolition drive and dethrone the territorial spirits by adopting streets, colonies and blocks for prayer walking, cleanse your city and graduate into an apostle, “Truly the signs of an apostle … in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.” Carry on until, “The kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdom of our Lord and His Messiah.” Not doing so can land you in the dog house. Mark 16:17,18; 2 Cor. 13:5; Matt.7:21-23; 11:12;12:29;16:18-19; Luke 10:19; John 15:8; 2 Cor. 12:12; 1 Cor. 10:19,20; 2Cor. 4:4; Rev.11:15; 1John 3:8

15. Resurrect from being a dead organization to a living organism. Missions is too important to be left to extra-biblical bureaucrats with cosmetic titles like CEO etc. who monitor legalistically with clear intension of controlling. Replace “Reverend culture” with five-fold ministry-gifted Elders of either gender, like apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers. The primary function of the church is to equip the saints, stagnating on the pews, for the works of the ministry of offering Gentiles who have been washed (baptised), sanctified (separated), justified (made to be righteous), resulting in growth and multiplication of the Body. The primary function of the Aaronic priest was to first offer sacrifice at the brass altar and then offer incense (prayer) at the golden altar. If the church became obedient to this pattern which was shown to Moses on the Mount with strict instruction not to change anything, Kingdom advance would go ballistic. The function of the New Testament priest must be to offer lost sheep as sacrifice and then offer prayer; “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations (Gentiles).” Anything less is dysfunctional, even counterfeit that mimics the genuine so closely that you might be easily fooled into thinking that it is the real deal. Many intercessors suffer from “yell and tell syndrome” but will not take one step to seek and save a lost person. True intercession is going out weeping with seeds and coming back rejoicing with sheaves. Over 85 percent of churches today have been planted by simple women. Making disciples and planting organic churches requires multiple skills and women are multi-tasking superstars. True Pastoring is pasturing the sheep everyday in the pasture-land (the world) to eat, mate and multiply. Healthy feeding and leading will keep the flock thriving and fertile and build bridges with the “other sheep which are not of this fold so that there will be one Shepherd and one flock.” Eph.4:11,12; Tit.1:5-9; Ps. 126:5,6; John 10:16

16. Stop despising the barefoot apostles: For the meek are the inheritors of the kingdom and you may be lucky to spend an eternity with them. The religious mega-stars of yesteryears were focused on “revival and churching the un-churched.” In spite of mass marketing, mega crowds and mega claims, they made little dent in the global religious demographics. In the last couple of decades, the non/semi-literate story tellers belonging to the oral tradition grassroots level workers, who are focused on “conversion and disciples who make disciples movement” have emerged as global players in, changing the spiritual profile of the globe, especially the 10/40 Window countries. It is the shift from the religious superstars to the common man/woman for, “God has chosen the foolish of this world to shame the wise”, as the real drivers of the kingdom at the fringes. Like their Master, they are not using mere words but launching out miraculous movements and declaring the kingdom, “Go and show John, the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised and the gospel is being preached to the poor.” To reach the ends of the earth, maximize every cell church, Sunday school, bible school, prayer cell, youth and women’s fellowships, cottage meeting and indeed every Christian household into full-fledged, authentic harvest reaping churches. Viralize “conversion with disciples that make disciples and churches that plant churches movement” by encouraging and empowering everyone, men, women and youth, to baptize, break bread, equip and send apostles, and together the little ones will turn upside down, the spiritual landscape of their cities. It is not to the mega-churches but to the little meta (beyond) gatherings that Yeshua promised, “Fear not little ones for it has pleased the Father to give you the Kingdom.” Luke 12:32; 1Cor.16:19; Luke 7:22-23; Acts 4:13;19:8-12; 1 Cor. 1:26-30; Rev.3:2,5; Gal.1:8-11; Exo. 25:9; Jer. 29:7

17. Filter out non-performing goats that come only for hatching (baby baptisms), matching (weddings) and dispatching (funerals). Replace them with sheep that take care of the hungry, thirsty, naked, strangers, sick and prisoners. Culling i.e. getting rid of the non-productive sheep and donating them as free gift to the nearest Pentecostal church, will greatly improve your standing in the local Pastor’s Fellowship. Culling is an integral dynamics of the ‘best practices’ of sheep rearing, so that the shepherd can focus and invest on the most productive sheep. God chose David to shepherd Israel, not because of his academic tags or for his gutsy gallantry, but because he was skillful in taking care of the most productive segment of his flock, “the ewes great with young”. Now God is pouring out His spirit on all flesh (that includes you); both men and women, young and old, Jews and Gentiles to edify and multiply His church. As the dominance and the power of the clergy diminishes and the effectiveness of the empowered believers increases, the kingdom goes ballistic. Not the politicians but it is the responsibility of the church to establish godly governance with kingdom values of peace, justice, security, and abundance for all. The reward is eternity and co-rulership with Christ. The architecture of an organic “household of God” is radically different from an organized church. It looks different and also her functional dynamics are entirely different. Imposing man-made supra-structures over God’s pattern, like Nadab and Abihu tried to do, can swiftly blot your name out from the Book of the Lamb. Eph. 2:19; Matt. 25:31-46; Psa. 78:70-72; Isa 40:11; Acts 2:17,18; Leviticus 10:1

18. Simplify disciple making. Invite a couple of truth-seekers for a meal where the main dish is - The Lamb. Redefine authentic church as “the household of God” with a mission; wherever two or three, eat, meet, gossip the gospel, and multiply. Like Paul try reasoning first, if that does not work, then try persuading and if that fails, try disputing and when push comes to shove, perform a notable miracle that they cannot deny. The primary business of the church is to coordinate between heaven and earth. No one is going to heaven because the pearly gates with streets of gold and glittering mansions, is coming down to earth and God will tabernacle with men. “As in Adam all die.” So when Yeshua comes all the dead, including Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah and Enoch will rise up, some to eternal shame and others to eternity with Christ. It is not just the economics but the trendlines of moral and spiritual freefall indicate dark trajectories that the “count-down” has begun and this event is imminent, hence it is not enough just to sit and pray, “Thy kingdom come and thy will be done on earth.” You will not be eligible for a mansion unless you make down payment here and now by taking your butt off the couch and go and “fill the earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord is the waters cover the sea.” Do some quick diagnostics and you will find that communication is no longer one way traffic? Internet, social media, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, Skype and Smart phones are radically changing the world. It is not just surfing the net but fruitfully engaging the lost netizens. This requires not just being techie geeks but discipling dexterity because God does not read e-mails but only knee-mails. He is now preparing a new generation with vision to drive the change, to restore the Bride which has become fat, flatulent and grossly disfigured by centuries of extra-biblical additions and accretions, into the original Bride without spots, wrinkles and blemishes. It is no longer just managing the youth but productively engaging them in multi-way conversation between the generations. If you don’t, atheists, Islamists, Yoga gurus and pornography are already polluting their minds. Acts 2:42-47; 4:16; 18:4; 19:8-12; Eph. 1:9,10; Matt. 6:10; 18:18-20;  Rev. 21:3; John 14:2,3; 1Thess. 16,17; Hab. 2:14; Eze. 9:21

19. Re-baptize seminaries: Shift from training aquarium keepers to equipping fishers of men. They are the Trees of the knowledge of good and evil. These Great Omission centers need to be anointed as The Great Commission training centers. Africans trained in western New Age theology are as irrelevant as Indians trained out of Hindu, Muslim or Buddhist context. They need to put on their ethnic garb, rather than the western designer garbage. Be the Tree of life, wherever you are planted, and bring forth abundant new fruit, even your leaves should be for the healing of the nations. Share the whole wisdom of God from house to house, and set up an unstoppable momentum of multi-generational discipleship chain. Atheists today are no longer fools (Nabal=willful rebel) that simply deny God in their hearts but have Ph.Ds. Using pseudo-science; they aggressively preach doctrines of demons in college campuses, seducing the young minds and turning them into atheists, agnostics, deists, evolutionists and even anti-Christs. Christians in general and college going students in particular are dead ducks if they are not trained in apologetics to defend their faith in a hostile world. Be they delinquent Christians or defiant devotees of other faiths, sound doctrine is not cerebral sermons from the pulpit, but the ability to convince, convict, convert and bring the recalcitrant to repentance and then dunk them. Most Christians who say Lord, Lord on Sunday are phony because they continue with their pursuit of the lusts of flesh the rest of the week. They have never come out of darkness into His marvelous light and become a light for others. A stable church remains stable and barren, but more the urban chaos, deviant behavior, filthy and fluid the situation, the better the chances of a new churches germinating. Mini-church is the most cost effective strategy for reaching the ends of the earth by saving one household at a time. God is not looking for transformed brains but transformed hearts. The lost of this world do not need worldly scholars who deliver watered down lukewarm sermons as much as they need spiritual fathers and mothers “who birth many spiritual children to glory” with ability to possess the gates (cities) of the enemy. Titus 1:9; 1 Peter 3:15; 1 Cor. 4:15; 14:24, 25; Mark 16:20; Acts 20:20, 27; Psalm 14:1; 1 Tim. 4:1,2; 2 Tim. 2:2; Heb 2:10; Rev. 22:1-3; Gen. 22:17,18

20. God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden to ‘work’ and to guard it. Significantly the Hebrew word Avodah for work can also be translated worship. Adam was to worship God through his work in the garden while guarding it from demonic attack. God took an accountability walk every evening to see how Adam was doing. Sadly, Adam disobeyed and climbed up the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, fell down and fractured his relational equation with Father God. He died instantly but was buried 930 years later. Paul, Aquila and Pricilla, Cornelius, the Jailor, Lydia, Phoebe and many others while continuing to work in their professions and business, also transformed their workplaces. The Lord commanded us to pray for laborers until we become part of our prayer. Persistent and ceaseless prayer will not work unless accompanied with persistent and ceaseless offering of lost sheep. Setting up Bible study and prayer cells is a cop out (easy way out). In the Scripture cowards are in the same class as idolaters, murderers and fornicators. Focus on setting up a discipleship chain to qualify as a fruitful laborer in the kingdom. The Lord can use a characterless person like the Samaritan woman who bravely went and transformed the very people who despised her. He is interested in obedience rather than in fulltime but fruitless ministries. The same infallible and Holy God, in His wisdom has placed you, a redeemed fallible sinner, among other sinners, to worship Him through your redemptive work. Stop minimizing Christ as your personal savior, but magnify Him wherever you are, as the liberator of those in bondage and the savior of the world. Gen. 3:15; Luke 10:2; 4:18; 2Tim. 2:2; Acts 19: 8-12; Rev. 21:8

21. Remove the chapel, the chaplain, the pulpit, the collection box and the Sunday service and the church will still be there because you are the walking and talking mobile temple of the living God. Reorient your personal paradigm. Recognize ‘Hi, Hello,’ happy clappy Sunday Service where they serve sugar coated cyanide, as your ‘secondary, optional church’. Your business, workplace or home, wherever you spend most of your time, is your ‘Primary nuclear church’. It matters little whether you are the CEO, or the janitor or the kitchen queen; you are a full-time work-place minister and accountable. The ancient worshipper did not just listen to the minister and sing a few songs. He was actively involved in worship. He slaughtered and dismembered the sacrifice with his own hands and then watched it go up in smoke. There are as many expressions of the church as there are believers (temples of the living God), as each one has different giftings. Not even a house church fits all size because Church is about them and not us. The traditional church is neither the sole guardian of the revealed Word nor the provider of salvation to the lost. Step out of your convivial zone as the party is likely to be over sooner than you think. Only those whose cup runneth over can drink from the saucer. Salvation is free but discipleship is costly. Salvation restores your relationship with the Father but discipleship restores you in the image of God because there is no blessing greater than being a blessing to others. Salvation is not enough, for you are saved to save others. The Christ in you must compel you with compassion to seek and save the lost, lest you turn out to be deaf, dumb, immobile and flawed temple of the living God for, “It is appointed for men to die once and then the judgment.” Rom. 12:1,2; Eph. 2:8; 3:6; Luke 15:7,10; Luke 14:23; James 5:20; Heb. 9:27

22. Offer Mincha and then Pray. God said, “My house shall be a house of sacrifice and I will meet and speak with you at the altar where continuous sacrifice is made.” Jews prayed after offering sacrifices. Yeshua said, “My house is a house of prayer for all nations” which means “all nations” will come there to be prayed for healing and deliverance and then discipled all the way into the Kingdom. In the NT we are to offer saved souls as lasting fruit as our sacrifice of thanks giving and then pray, “I have chosen and ordained to bring forth lasting fruit and (then) the Father will do whatever you ask.” Fruit is the ovary of a plant, full of seeds to be disseminated. The tasty bit is only to attract you to spread the seeds. Your lasting fruits are those seeds which produce fruit elsewhere. Paul’s ministry was to offer Gentiles as mincha (bloodless thanksgiving). Building tall prayer tower does not bring you any closer to God as he is not deaf. It minimizes the Christ in you, the hope of glory of the Gentiles. Yeshua taught his disciples, “When you bring your offering (doron=sacrifice) to the altar…and when you stand praying.” Saying sorry to God alone is not repentance; like the tax collector, you must recompense.  Fasting and prayer alone are not acceptable to God unless accompanied with “Unloosing the chains of wickedness, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke.” Then God will answer, “Here I am.” Offering sanctified sinners glorifies God. Be the altar of sacrifice for the lost wherever you are, lest you end up as a barbecued burnt offering like the sons of Aaron. 2Chron. 7:12; Exodus 29:42; John 15:16; Luke 18:1; 19:1-10; 1Cor. 3:16;  Rom. 15:16; Col. 1:26,27; Isa. 58:1-10; Matt. 5:23; Mark 11:25; 1 Tim. 2:8; Isa.  6:1; 1Peter 2:5; Lev. 10:1

23. Most good missionaries practice bad missiology because they naively export dysfunctional Christianity, heavily preloaded with money, knowledge, power and superiority based culture and traditions which they try to impose on others but utterly lacking in the supernatural. But God dwells and specializes in the supernatural. They must delete all that is demonic but revive, regenerate and fertilize all that is of virtue and noble and good. Do no violence to their food habits, dress code and do not vilify their culture and worship style, just because they are different. Do not hurriedly church a new believer into an institutional church, where he will be lectured to but not discipled. Yeshua did not call us to be church-goers but cross-bearers and disciple-makers. Sadly 99.9 percent Christians do not have a clue, on how to share their faith even with their best friends, forget about leading someone of other faith to Christ. And by some fluke if that happens, then they do not know how to make him a disciple-maker, simply because they themselves have never been discipled. Fathers – improve your relationship score with your children, lest the Lord smite the earth with a curse. Just like a snake charmer teaches his children to catch snakes from childhood, pass on the DNA of rapid multiplication and create a family culture of making many disciples, while they are still young. Find a coach loaded with lasting fruit, to take you out for practice sessions in the harvest field. Paul shaved his head, circumcised Timothy, offered sacrifice, advocated eating meat offered to idols, visited heathen temples, contextualized their pagan books and used it to disciple Athenians. He did all these weird things to save as many weird people as he could. Acts 16:3,4; 17:17-28; 18:18; 21:20-25; 1Cor. 10:25; Phil. 4:8; 1Tim 4:3-5

24. Are you Rapture ready? Do not wait ‘till death do us part’, rather do whatever it takes to precipitate Rapture by bringing Christ back on earth in your own generation. Re-set your priorities to preach Christ where He has not been named including your workplace, home or neighborhood. Do not light candles in the chapel but be the candle that kindles the lives of those who sit in darkness and in the shadow death. For this you do not have to go to church from Sunday to Sunday nor work from paycheck to paycheck. Most people are so busy earning a living (worshipping Mammon, the god of gold and silver) that they have no time to live. You are chosen and “ordained” to be a harvester and blessed to possess the gates (cities) of the enemy. The only hands-on skill the church imparts is how to clap your hands but there is an acute shortage of laborers who can wield a sickle in the harvest field. How do you see the crowds - nuisance, stressful or indifferent? Yeshua saw the crowds as harvest fields and commanded us, “Lift up your eyes and see the fields, for they are white for harvest – already!” The harvest has been ready and waiting for the last 2000 years. Yeshua is coming back as King with a Crown on his head and a laser sharp sickle in his hand. If you want your crown, then learn to effectively wield the sickle for, “Multitudes, multitudes are in the valley of decision! For the day of Jehovah is at hand. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down.” The angels will be rejoicing and clapping their hands in heaven even as you begin reaping the harvest, for they are the ones who will be gathering the harvest from the four corners of the earth. 1Cor. 15:52; Matt. 4:16; 6:33; 9:37,38; Genesis 22:17,18; Luke 11:33; 15:7,10; John 4:35; 15:16; Rev. 14:13-15; Joel 3:13,14; Matt. 24:31

25. Adopt a ‘completion mindset’. Evaluate your ministry by the Great Commission as your mandate, with the numbers of disciples made, baptized, equipped and sent out as the benchmark. Like our Lord, focus on a few strategic people to reach millions. Aim to become a millionaire of souls. And why not? After all, you believe in a great and awesome God for whom nothing is impossible. At the very least, like Peter, shoot for 3000 baptisms every Pentecost. Or like Paul, plant a multiplying micro-church every day, till you can claim, “There are no more places left here for me to preach.’  The minimum standard to qualify as a follower of Yeshua is, that like your Master, equip twelve disciples who have the ability to turn their world upside, wherever they are placed. God of Israel lived in a tent house (tabernacle) for 400 years to stay connected with his people. If you are not connected with your world, then you are disconnected with God for He has placed you there to write Acts 29. Do not watch the world go by, but resonate with God’s will, which is that none should perish, reach out and make a difference. When the King comes, we will all meet in the house churches as that is the only place that will accommodate everybody. Having your name written in the church’s membership register is no ticket for entry into God’s Kingdom.  Make sure that your name is written in the Book of the Lamb. That will happen only when you shift from your comfort zone of being a hearer of the Word to a doer of His will, which is that all should come to the knowledge of truth and be saved. Why wait, plan on bringing Christ back on earth in your own generation. It is doable. Matt. 28:18-20; Joshua 13:1; Acts 2:41; 16:5; Rom. 15:19, 23; 2 Peter 3:9; James 1:22; 1Tim 2:4

Shalom and Shabbat.  Email: <greettheekklesia@gmail.com>

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