The message of brother Theodore on the 11th night of the Fasting Praise and Prayer Crusade focused on:
- Further examination of the Lord Jesus’ way of building the Kingdom
- A brief teaching on the making of disciples
About the first topic, brother Theodore said Jesus is our model and we learn from Him how to build the spiritual nation.
The leader explained once more that the vision of Jesus covers the whole mankind, creation, eternity (in space and time). However, His mission and ministry, His apostleship was limited to the nation of Israel. On this, he commented that God the builder of all has a place for each one in His building, and each one is to stay in the place assigned to him. However, many men of God fall into sin, die, backslide because they have gone beyond their calling. By the time one starts desiring the anointing, the ministry, the gifts of somebody else, one becomes a fallen angel because jealousy, envy come in, the leader stated. When you do more than what you have been given, because you want to be like others, you will lose your position. This truth is illustrated in the Bible by such characters as king Uzziah, Miriam, Lucifer, Gehazi. Each one should therefore explore the extent of their appointment, and stay within the limits of their appointment. Appointment, brother Theodore said, is definition and limitations.
To introduce the second aspect, brother Theodore specified once more that the Lord Jesus built the Kingdom by investing Himself in the Making of Disciples. He, disclosed that we use the making of disciples, in two ways.
The first way, which is a pastoral way, consists in leading somebody to Lord and building him till he is established in the Lord and in the church. In other words, we lead the person to the Lord, we teach him, we show him our own life so that he will be established in the Lord, in the church, in the ministry. The goal of such making of disciples is maturation. It is to produce people that can take care of themselves in the Lord Jesus. Unfortunately, brother Theodore, said, many that have believed in the Lord Jesus are not in that category. The average believer does not know the call of God on his life, he does not know continuous communion with God, he does not manifest the fruit of the Spirit, he does not know victory over the enemy, victory over himself, over the world, over sin, over his habits, over demons… This state exists because of the failure in the making of disciples, because of the failure to build people to live a victorious Christian life. This pastoral way of making disciples is what God is asking us for Phase 3: One million such pastors who have under them 50-100 sheep whom they make into disciples.
The attention and the teaching given to the sheep, in this way is pastoral. Believers are built into disciples in this way so that they can carry responsibilities and be fruitful, it is the natural process of maturation, brother Theodore said. Maturation leads to multiplication, he concluded as he gave the short form formula MM (maturation leads to multiplication).
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