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| Switched Off - To Switched On |
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In my previous blog, in the back of my mind I recalled a friend of mine who was in ministry. He was in a well-paid job as an Accountant at a well-known world-wide company, and he packed it all in to become a preacher. The headlines in our local newspaper said "Dancing in the Aisle" as there were many people dancing and singing all over the place, and his ministry grew and grew - and so did the responsibilities. People phoned him up in the middle of the night with "problems", he counselled people, he prayed for people and did everything you can imagine for people, then suddenly without any warning - he switched off. Not only did he switch off, he had a total mental breakdown. To mention anything to do with church was like acid to his ears. He just didn't want to know.
A few years passed before he stepped into a church again. Without any warning, an unknown person went up to him and said something that only he and God knew. Whatever that was I don't know, but it switched him back on again, but this time with a difference. When he started attending church again, he told me that he entered back as if to say "hello, I'm back!" and he expected to start off where he finished off, but no... He had to start off by sitting with the rest of them in their seats listening to other people preaching. It was quite some time before they let him loose where he could start preaching again.
When he started preaching again, it was within the era of where Cell church was being born in the mid 90's (I think). When I saw the video - I thought it was a bit wacko to say the least. But when I heard the concept of Cell church and where he was coming from, I knew exactly where he was coming from - and a lot of prayer went into it before he and others made the decision. The short version of Cell church was to spread-out the responsibility and not just leave it to one person all the time. Although the preaching was still said from behind the podium/stand or whatever you'd like to call it, when it came to bible-study group, instead of one person leading the bible-study group at one particular night within church walls, it was led by many people within people's homes. So instead of it being one leader, there were several leaders.
When this concept of Cell church hit the people sitting in their seats, many people left because they still wanted him to be the leader. And through many conversations I had with him after my father died back in 1997, there was no way on planet earth that he was going to start where he finished off - because it led to a breakdown. He never went back into accountancy and he never took up full-time ministry again in the sense of being paid for it. In fact he became a postman delivering parcels and letters. There was just too much responsibility involved. But when I talked to him, you could still see the passion in his eyes. That passion lasted until the day he died of acute myeloid leukemia, and I remember sitting in one of the seats in church one day - knowing he had this disease and undergoing treatment (chemotherapy), and as a person was preaching - I heard a voice to the left of me that kept saying, hallelujah, amen. He was as weak as weak could be because of this illness and chemo treatment - and I didn't know he was there.
One person grabbed hold of him and literally picked him up by the seat of his pants and carried him to the front and he preached a message about healing.
As he stood there with his baseball cap on (because his hair had fallen out) he preached his guts out - for which everybody stood up and they seemed to clap forever. One month later he was dead. A week later was his funeral. The funeral itself was a family-only affair. But when night-time came along - they held a celebration day in remembrance of him, and it didn't matter what church people came from, they literally packed the place. Throughout his 30 years of ministry, people remembered how much he helped people and encouraged them. And I for one remember him taking me under his wing so-as-to-speak and encouraging me and what he did in my life when everything was going belly-up. Perhaps that's why I do what I do when I see people's lives going belly-up (I dunno). But one thing I do know for sure. If people won't listen, I ain't going to go on meltdown in order to achieve it. Read Proverbs 5:13-14 [NIV] to understand what I mean. When everything including the kitchen sink has been offered people and they just won't take notice, its time to move on.
Well this maybe a long-winded run-up to my message - and it may have a short ending. But I was thinking to myself this morning. When thinking of other people and what they do, would you like to go through what they went through in order to get it? Think of it in Jesus terms. When thinking of taking up a ministry, would you like to go through what He went through in order to get it? Superficially speaking the answer is yes. But think a bit deeper. When push came to shove - it cost Him everything He'd got, so the answer may be no. So when studying the life Jesus led when it came to planting seeds, He planted them, but it was up to the other person whether they germinated them or not. To put it in modern-day language. He didn't phone them up, He didn't email them to see if anything was happening, and He definitely didn't text them to see if they got the message or not. He just planted them and moved on. Finally a parable Jesus told.
Matthew 13 [NIV] starting partway through verse 3 and ending at verse 9. "A farmer went out to sow seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop--a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear."
Going through all that scenario with seeds and the various conditions in which they were planted in, its the same with people. So why are people chasing other people around - planting seed after seed when all the time we should be just sowing it? Its up to the other person whether it takes root or not. It all depend what condition they'd like to live in. Mind you, when I think about that video I saw about Cell church and tomatoes as big as baseballs, I still think its a bit wacko. But that's me (and I don't mean wacko). Here ends my message. |
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| Stevie, great post!!!!! I think alot of people believe they have to reap.....so they can see the fruits. It's not true. |
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Hi Cindy. They have to sow before they can reap. And whatever is sown is also reaped. It could be a hundred-fold, sixty-fold or thirty-fold, but the reaping a-cometh. I just keep sowing and sowing into people's lives in the hope that one day I'll reap something (for the good that is). I'm just passing on a seed that was sown into me by a friend of mine who was also like a brother to me that I never had. He visited me whilst I was in hospital back in 1999 in Sheffield when everything was going belly-up and my body nearly checked out. In other words I stared death in the face.
Without going into detail, he asked me one simple question. Do you think you've made the right decision? I couldn't answer him at the time and I welled up with tears and just shook my head because I didn't know. I lived for so long with something, and it took one operation to sort it out - which led to another to sort out the sorting out. The thing that happened within that hospital changed my life forever. From that day to this, I whistle a different tune, and its only now that I'm beginning to see the fruit. |
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| We don't always see the reaping though in this world.....we may sow the seeds, then someone else comes along and sees the reaping :) I think alot of people want to be able to say "look what I did'.....so they want the reaping.....when in truth it's not what they did, it's what God did. Get my drift? |
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STUSHI |
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July 16, 2008 at 8:35am |
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| Our rewards will be seen and given in heaven Stevie Bee! keep planting the seed Bro! |
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| There's a well-known saying isn't there Stu? You can lead a horse to water - but you can't force it to drink. I'll keep planting and sowing, but its up to the person at the other end whether they'll take it or not. |
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