The Withered Tree...

Do you remember Jesus and the withered fig tree?
The story is found in Matthew 21 and in Mark 11.

I have a question.
As you read the two records of this incident there appears to be a discrepancy.
In Matthew the tree withers immediately, in Mark the tree is withered the next day.
There are no discrepancies in God's word so what is this about?

It is about our eyes.

No one likes delay, least of all me.
God promises breakthrough for me, for WTL, for the families of WTL.
God has said that the rain will fall on me and will fall on those He has given WTL.
God has said that the burden will be lifted because of fatness [Isaiah 10: 27].
If I shared with you all that the Lord has spoken over us you would be astounded.
We believe it.
But we see a delay, why?
It's about us.
He waits for us, not we wait for Him.
Read on.

In the Mark record we see a verse that has always intrigued me.
I have spoken of it before.
It goes like this:

'And Jesus answered saying to them, "Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen. it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED THEM, and they will be granted you."

Don't you find this intriguing? I do!
We'll get back to that in a minute.

Firstly the two fig trees stories.
In Matthew Jesus says the fig tree will no longer bear fruit and it says that the fig tree withered immediately.
In Mark Jesus says the same but we see that the fig tree was withered the next day.
Why the difference? Is there a mistake in God's word?

There is no mistake but there is a great revelation.
I often say, Jesus is Everything.
I didn't make this up all on my own. I once asked a precious brother how he would describe in a few words the message of Grace to which God was calling me and his reply was...

"JESUS IS EVERYTHING."

I have never forgotten it.
But the truth is that my brother didn't make it up on his own either because God, the Father, said in Colossians 1: 19 that it was His 'good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him.'
In the next chapter of Colossians it says that 'in Him [that is, Jesus] all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.'
If you want you can write over those two verses, and there are many more, the blessed words, JESUS IS EVERYTHING.

Now the two accounts of the withered fig tree.
One is spiritual and the other physical.
Matthew records the spiritual reality, Mark records the physical.
What do I mean?

When Jesus speaks over your life in the finished work of the cross it is done.
He said, "IT IS FINISHED."

(Listen to me, when Jesus says 'I have come that they might have life, ABUNDANT LIFE' it is done in the finished work of Jesus. No if's, no buts! Please ignore those who would tell you that the abundant life of Christ includes this but doesn't include that. When Jesus restores He does a complete job. I have spoken of this truth in previous posts on this blog. If I go there now this will be very long!)

When God says bounty is poured out on WTL in the spiritual it is done. The fig tree withers immediately.

(That will be why God continues to unfold the immensity of His plan for WTL...beloved, it is IMMENSE! I have to ask, do you want to partner with us? Please contact me. As partners we will stand together in glory surrounded by millions and millions who God has shown me are our inheritance. Do you want to stand with us in that day? Then stand with us now and the rain will fall on you too! Don't stand with us looking at us, stand with us and look at Jesus. We point you to Him. Our message is simple, He is EVERYTHING.)

In the physical it is delayed. But it WILL wither the next day and when it does it will wither roots and all!
What is done in the spiritual we will see physically fulfilled far greater than we can hope or imagine! It will be roots and all!
Beloved, what is released in heaven IS RELEASED on earth.

What am I saying?
When we pray we must believe the finished work of Jesus, we believe in HIM. Nothing else. No strategy on our part, no action required, nothing to be done, we are given the Kingdom, already given, not coming, we don't have it but not yet...WE HAVE IT because we have Jesus and He is EVERYTHING! Do you see? God is Love and He revealed it in Jesus. When He gave His only Son do we really, REALLY believe that there is a limit to the out-pouring of His Grace? Really? Is His favour limited? NO way! Despite what is preached everywhere telling you what you should do to merit the favour of God I have to tell you that you already have His favour because Jesus completed the work! What we see with physical eyes isn't important. In HIM it is done. The mountain is cast into the sea even though it may appear to be still there.
When we pray we BELIEVE THAT WE HAVE RECEIVED IT even though the physical fulfillment is delayed.

That is where we are at WTL.
Breakthrough is delayed but does that make it uncertain? No way!
It is certain because in the spiritual it is done because Jesus is the fullness of God and the Bible clearly declares that in His fullness we are complete. That is Colossians 2: 10.

I speak now to my WTL family everywhere, all those God has given us and those who are still coming.
Our breakthrough, our completion, is certain because the tree is withered immediately in Jesus Christ.
Yes, we see delay until the morning but the delay does not make its fulfillment less certain.
The enemy would like us to believe that it may not come but we reject that and we declare: 'The tree is withered immediately, in Jesus finished work, in the provision of the promise of Jesus Christ our breakthrough is certain.'
All of you join with me brothers and sisters and believe that we have it even if our physical eyes don't see it because based in His GRACE it is done. It is certain. It is complete.

What should we do now together?
We should give thanks to the Lord for He is Good. His Love, Mercy and Grace endure forever and ever and ever. Amen and amen.
This is our Victory Call!
Give Him your thanks as if we already have it and it will be granted.
Amen, Lord Jesus.
We believe it and receive it.

HALLELUJAH!

Kingdom Building...

Recently I was sitting in church and God asked me a question.
The Holy Spirit spoke into my mind and the question was...
"When Jesus was on earth why did He not talk about the church?"
Hmmm?
What did He talk about then?
He talked about the Kingdom.
A lot!
Search the gospels, the kingdom is a regular theme.

Now, when God asks I know He has something to say.
Also, I know that what He has to say will be just the beginning of a long, wonderful 'onion peeling' time as He peels back the layers of His revelation.

You know onions? They come in layers and it is possible to peel each layer back and as you do you are impacted. Mostly I cry!

So, as I contemplated God's question I knew He wanted to start me off so I said, " I don't know Lord, why did Jesus not talk about the church?"
His answer?
He began with this little taster just to get me started.
Jesus' lack of talk about the church is a very good blueprint for our young people. As our young people grow to adults they often get quite worried and concerned (desperate?) for boyfriends and girlfriends. The Lord said that Jesus, in the selection of His bride, was happy to leave it to God. I think God smiled as He 'suggested' that this is a good strategy for young people. Leave the choice to God, He will get it right.
An interesting thought but I knew there was more to come.

One of the thing's about the Lord is this. He doesn't have the same clock as me. In fact, He doesn't have a clock at all. He is eternity and is above the time constraints that often plague us and so I have learnt that waiting is one of His great and wonderful communications to us.
I have learnt that this time is not us waiting for Him, but Him waiting for us. I am waiting at the moment but not for God, His breakthrough is sure in the the provision of the finished work of Jesus Christ, but He waits for me to be ready to receive it. 
Somebody once said that I am a very patient man because I have waited and waited as God has unfolded His call on my life to preach Grace to the world. I laughed when this was said because you wouldn't say I was patient if you saw me driving down the road behind a car doing significantly less than the posted speed limit; then I am definitely not very patient!

But I have learnt that if we wait God always has more to share.

It has recently been strenuously asserted that the absolute primary purpose of the church is to be sent. To support this it has been said that 'sending', being 'sent,' is the primary theme of John's gospel. The basis for this is that it is in John's gospel where Jesus says that as He was sent by the Father so He is sending us. I always thought the primary theme of John's gospel was about Him, His love, not us and our being sent! That may be a simplistic precis but that is the essence of what has been spoken. In the midst of this churches that minister by 'attraction', that minister to the 'needs' of its people, that exist for the 'benefit' of its people have been vaguely criticised as missing the mark of the calling of God to 'mission', to being sent. I have struggled with this significantly, which is strange because I have a clearer vision of what it means to be 'sent' than most people I know. I am called and I believe in that call and I have declared and will continue to declare that where God calls me to go, I will go.

The church is the body of Christ.
Ephesians 1: 22, 23 and other scriptures are clear on this.
Jesus is the head and we, the church, are His body. We can then read 1 Corinthians 12 where gifts and ministries are discussed and we will see all the functions of a body. Consider for a moment all the parts of your body and we see a beautiful picture of God's view of the church. It is beautiful and is there any wonder that the Bridegroom, prophetically speaking of His bride in the Song of Solomon, could exclaim, "How beautiful you are, my darling, how beautiful you are!" [Song of Solomon 4: 1]
You know, I don't dispute at all that the church is sent however I struggle with the view that this is the absolute primary purpose of the church. Yes, this is the primary purpose of members of the church but this does not diminish the purpose of others who are called and gifted to care, and encourage, and provide. Those members have great value. Someone once told me that I would continue to go and share Jesus and I would return to my church to rest and be fed and encouraged. The Bible, in 1 Corinthians 12,  is clear that if every member of the body were eyes, where would the hearing be? If everyone was hearing, where would the sense of smell be? If all are sent, where is the encouraging, caring, prayerful, providing place of rest? Just my thoughts.

It is into this thinking and meditation that God asks me His question.

I am a 'cud chewer.' If you have never had anything to do with cows you will probably have no idea what I am talking about. I grew up on a dairy farm and have long observed cows who chew the cud. They eat grass, they regurgitate it, and they chew it again, over and over. I do this with God's word. I chew over it.

So I have been and will continue to chew over God's question.
This post is probably just one in a long line of things God says to me about His question.

The point is that Jesus spoke of the Kingdom, not the church.
I, therefore, must conclude that the building of the Kingdom is the primary task, not the building of the church.
In fact, church building, bride selection and preparation, is God's job, not ours.
Just as Jesus was willing to leave the preparation and selection of His bride to His Father (not once did He say 'I wish I had a girlfriend!') so are we to leave church building to Him. It is here that I have to respectfully suggest that we have devoted our energy and resource to church building rather than Kingdom building and in that pursuit we have lost our way.
It is some time ago that I felt that God was calling me out of the church where I have long had fellowship and I have struggled because I have not had any clear sense of where I should go. Recently, as I contemplated this dilemma I had given myself, the Lord said to me, "Graeme, don't worry about what church you should 'go' to, that isn't your purpose; you just 'seek Me' and I will deal with the church issue, that is My role. I build the church, I have called you to Kingdom building."

We used to wear wrist bands with W.W.J.D? printed on them. 'What Would Jesus Do?'
I suggest that was the wrong question and the correct question is actually, 'What is Jesus Doing?'
Has His sent task changed?
He clearly declares that He came to establish the Kingdom.
Has that changed?
Is it now about church establishment? I think not!
On the basis of that is my role, our role, church building? No, I think not.
Jesus is my Leader. I will follow Him. He is a Kingdom builder so I am Kingdom builder!
So it's not about the church, we are to leave to God.
We are Kingdom builders, just like Jesus.

Last Sunday I had the privilege to visit a little country church. The speaker gave a very detailed sermon on the Kingdom. Wow! What a wonderful academic exercise it was! In essence we were told that the kingdom is here, but not yet. I absolutely respect his preparation and delivery but I just couldn't help hearing the question, 'Why did Jesus not talk of the church?' Why did He speak about the Kingdom? And what is the Kingdom anyway?

You know, I am very simplistic. I struggle to engage in academic debates on scripture because I find a great sense of bondage in those debates and, for me, looking at every verse through the lens of the cross of Jesus, looking through eyes of Grace, everything is clearer, simpler, more wonderful and complete in freedom.
An example.
Matthew 6: 33 is an often quoted verse.

I clearly remember the last sermon I heard on this verse where we were encouraged to apply our action and energy to seeking the kingdom and our action and energy to being righteous. Oh, the bondage of it, no wonder the Bible says that the Law brings death. I choose Life! Jesus is Life and He fulfilled completely the demands of Law to release us to the freedom of the supply of Grace.

We are KINGDOM builders! What is the Kingdom?
Listen to this...

'...for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.' [Romans 14: 17]

The Kingdom of God is not about the things we do but about righteousness, peace and joy as revealed by the Holy Spirit. What is the role of the Holy Spirit? To reveal Christ, to exalt Him.
I know God has much more to say around His question but I cannot avoid declaring this.
JESUS CHRIST, He is the Kingdom. He is our Righteousness, He is our Peace, He is our Joy.
You know I absolutely believe and am convinced that we have laboured ourselves with all sorts of stuff that is designed to build the church and in the midst of this we have missed the freedom of the truth that He is the Kingdom and as we pursue Him and Him alone, 'all these things will be added to you.'
Wow! That is freedom for me.
My role in life is to declare Him; His Love, His Mercy and His Grace and to GIVE THANKS for He is Good; His Love, Mercy and Grace endure forever.
That is a LIFE of PURPOSE.

I am sure God has more to reveal.
Have a great day.