Rev. Ewen Chow
Let us make preparations for the generation
we will never see. Even though David never saw the Temple, Moses never entered
the promised land, they did not live selfishly despite not seeing their dreams
become reality. Instead, they sowed and paved way for the future generations.
God’s kingdom is to become increasingly glorious with each generation.
Matthews 21:23, 6-7 This is not mentioned
in the other gospel books but here we see two donkeys: the big donkey and the
small donkey.
Rev. Bill Johnson
Foundation
build by the previous generation
John Adams, second American president, said
"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study
mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy,
geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and
agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry,
music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain."
While God's spirit lives in Christians, it
is only when the spirit of God falls upon you, you change whatever environment
it is that is around you. Bringing transformation to the planet.
A shift has taken place in Asia these days.
A shift in culture is God's work.
Bill Johnson's prayer: that our hope
dramatically increases.
There have been seasons in history where
key individuals would rise that knows how the heavenly kingdom functions,
breaks them down into understandable concepts and bring about change in
society. To bring about transformation of culture: presence of God should be
the primary value!
David was a shepherd who discovered that
God responds to his songs. He knew God desires our worship, not animal
sacrifice, at a time under the Law where such concept was unknown of. David was
doing something that was forbidden by the Law he was under, because he saw
something beyond the time he lived in, whereby he could already see Jesus'
doings.
David had such a desire for God's presence
that God gave David a taste of what happened in the New Testament, and David's
Tabernacle is a prototype of the New Testament church! When he realised his
horrible sin with Bathsheba, he cried for God's presence not to leave him. He
has such a value for the presence that he adjusts his life around that.
According to the Law, David should not be a
priest because he was not a Levite, but yet he was a Prophet, priest and king!
One ministry sets the stage of another. God
told David he cannot build the temple and this is not out of punishment, but
because David's ministry is different from Solomon.
Solomon made a covenant with God whilst he
was sleeping. Solomon is so single and focused on God that God trusted him to
make decisions in his sleep!
If your eye is set on a voyage, this will
set light to the rest of the voyage.
Proverbs 4
Bill Johnson thinks his ancestors wouldn't
be honoured by him announcing what his Dad had accomplished. Instead he thinks
he'd be honouring then if he builds upon the foundations his parents had built.
Parents without dreams will raise children without a sense of purpose.
David was not a good father. His children
were full of potentials and it was a tragedy. Something then changed when
Solomon was born: he actually taught him and asked him to get wisdom, which was
a prophetic word to his son.
Solomon was the only one in the Old
Testament who was given the option to have whatever he wanted. Is it possibly
because he was the only one trained and able to choose the right option when
asked such a question?
David created a momentum that changed the
world.
Solomon's giftings were nothing like
David's. David knew Solomon will be a king of peace. The need to fight with a
sword is no longer needed in Solomon's generation. But the supreme priority in
the value for the presence in both David and Solomon's reigns. Somewhere in
Solomon's reign it changed: he changed from priority in the presence to
priority in the principles. If you just follow the principle, you may walk away
from the manifest of the glory.
David prepares Solomon to be great. His son
inherit the land.
God wants us to have 100 year visions.
A righteous man leaves inheritance to his
children's children. Our decisions will influence the generations we would
never see. Let us pray for the generations we will never see, make decisions
for the generations we will never see. If the current generation lives
selfishly, making the country go into debt, our descendants will inherit that.
How willing are we pray for the people we never see? Sometimes what we want to
see won't happen in our generation. We want our descendants to possess a dream.
History is shaped by people who thinks outside the line, and dreams unusual
dreams. Pray that each generation complements each other, with no gap.
Wisdom
and dreams
1Kings 10
Wisdom is prophetic. When we see a wall we
know there's something behind that supporting it so it can stand.
Wisdom sees beyond the obvious, and there's
an understanding of what holds things together. Eg. How family works, how
businesses work, sees beyond the profits of the business
3 ways by which wisdom manifests:
1) Creativity: Proverbs 8, to do with how
creation took place
2) Excellence: Proverbs 22, if you are
excellent in your work, you stand before kings. A lot of Christians just look
forward to heaven and doesn't live in excellence. One of the cities Bill
Johnson is greatest impacted by is Geneva. 500 years ago it was a very bad
city, "the smelliest city in Europe", Calvin was made to live in
Geneva. When people's work become an expression of their worship, their work
becomes excellent. UN, Red Cross, YMCA, world food bank, Rolex, Cartier.
Extraordinarily excellence strived there. It went from Europe's poorest city to
one of the wealthiest. Hay did the same for Norway, which went from the poorest
country in Europe to the wealthiest country. One of the things that greatest
pleases Him is to do principles the same here as in heaven's principles.
3) Integrity
Every child is an artist, unless they're
told their not. Every believer is an artist. We can express life creatively.
There is creativity in every occupation.
Solomon answered all of Queen Sheba's
questions. Wisdom beyond anything she's seen.
When the bible wanted to reveal Solomon's
wisdom, those things were recorded were a bit embarrassing: The house that he
built, the clothing of his servants, the way the guests were seated in the
table, the stairway that lead from Solomon's house to God's house. The mundane.
Calvin and Hay changed the culture of those
European cities.
One of the greatest regrets shared by
palliative care patients: They never became what they were inside, but became
what people around them expect to be. We don't tell other people what to dream,
but to help them achieve their dreams.
When we discover what God made us to be, we
will never want to be someone else.
It was the design and settings of things
that impressed Queen Sheba and made her see there is a God!
Most people do not work in ministry
positions. There's a lie that their jobs are not as useful as that of a
minister, which prevented people from worshipping God in their work.
An offering attracts the presence. If we
give our work as an offering this attracts the presence.
Paul was a tent maker. Acts 19: Paul's
clothing can heal people who are demonised. Paul's heat bands, sweaty cloths
worn as he was working on his tents. These represent his hard work in his job.
Paul offered his work as tent maker as worship to God, and the presence goes
onto the cloths!
We have to stop catergorising things God
did not categorise, because the stairs became things that revealed God's
presence to Queen Sheba.
1Kings 8: dedication of the temple. Solomon
correctly acknowledged the idea came from his dad. V 16.
We sometimes have this misconception about
our involvement with what God is doing on this earth. We don't need people
building their own empires and calling it God's work. On the other hand, Jesus
has committed himself to fulfill the dreams of his people. Jesus has the right
to say no to anything that undermines his purpose, eg. When Jesus' disciples
asked Jesus to destroy a city he said no!
God says the temple was not His idea, it
was David, and Solomon said it was in the heart of his father. God did not ask
for the temple to be built but God created David!
God did not choose the city in which to
build the temple, but God created David, who seeks after God's heart. We are
God's co-workers. We have a desire/dream. God's will is that no one perishes,
but people still perish. We have the capacity to build stairs that shouts there
is a God! God did not make us robots, but his children to dream!
The
price paid by the previous generation
Some of the things that took Bill 30 years
to learn are taking his students 6 months to learn! There is an exponential
growth in knowledge these days!
We need growing wisdom on how to preach to
a generation of change.
Matthew 11: 11 Truly I tell you, among
those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist;
yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
The angel of the lord spoke to John the
Baptist's father. The angel said John will minister in the spirit of Elijah.
This was already declared by God. Elijah is extremely valued in the Old
Testament. Yet Elisha had twice the anointing. Jesus said John the Baptist is
the greatest but why he honoured him with Elijah instead of Elisha? In present
days we honour those who build the biggest buildings, the greatest number of
members, etc., but the heaven honours the father of the movement, because the father
ignited the movement. Bill Johnson accomplished much more than his father, but
his father lived in a much more difficult time spiritually and broke through
many barriers in the spiritual realm for Bill Johnson to be able to do what he
did. If we don't honour those who God honoured then we lose the honour!
Some of those in the older generation had
to pay a price which the younger generation does not have to pay. Because of
the generosity of the older generation allowed the younger generation to not
need to pay the price.
I can identify strongly with this
statement. Both of my parents lived in extreme poverty. It was their
determination to get out of the cycle that drove them to their extraordinary
success, but they really paid dearly for it. I am very lucky to be in such a
privileged position as a result of their hard work. I wouldn't have as many
options available to me in life if it wasn't for the prices they have paid.
Rev. Ian Liao
Judges 2:6-11
Israel has lost a whole generation, despite
inheriting the land. Inheriting the land but losing the next generation. This
is an illustration of many western nations. Today, Europe has lost the next
generation. What had happened in Judges is happening today, even in Korea.
Having a church building but losing the next generation.
Joshua 1:1-15 Moses has passed away, but there
is Joshua. We are all Moses. Where is Joshua? Every 5 years marks a stage.
It’s ok not to have land as long as there’s
Joshua. If there’s land but no Joshua, then we are doomed. Joshua is Moses’
helper, not only in ministry, but Moses saw him as his spiritual child and took
him up Mount Sinai with him. Exodus 33:9-11
Numbers 11:27-29 Not only do we want to see
the leaders glorified, we want to see glory fall upon everyone.
Numbers 13:16 Joshua means saviour
Deuteronomy 34:9 Moses passes his anointing
on to Joshua.
Rev. James Goll
This is James Goll’s first visit to Taiwan,
and the first time I’ve heard him preach! He has a very unusual style of
preaching where he constantly switches between singing preaching and praying.
Having been a professional singer when he was younger, he really sings quite
well! He also has a great sense of humour! However, these are not all that
important. The best of all is, as he speaks, there is a strong presence of God
felt by the audience.
First he made is quite clear he refuses to
export misery Christianity:
Hope means to cherish, to have a desire, with
an expectation of fulfillment. James Goll encourages us to become a person of
good expectations. Something good is about to happen. This is not the terminal generation.
James Goll refuses to export misery Christianity. The bible is full of good
news. It is the only book which when you read, it reads you! His prophetic word
for us is: study this book!
Our God is a God of hope.
2 illustrations of hope:
1) City of refuge: it is found in Old
Testament, they were whole cities which people can run to and they are safe!
Hope, the positive expectation of good, is like being able to run into a safe
city!
Cancer free cities, glory of God to cover
the earth as the waters cover the seas! When James was young, theology of that
time believes this will be far in the future, but it's not!
Safe area full of hope!
Every prayer counts! Every act of obedience
counts!
2) Anchor: For a ship to enter into harbor
and be stablised from the winds and waves, an anchor is needed. The anchor
stablises the boat to the rock below. So we will not be drifted by the Shifting
of the times and seasons. The world we live in is like water, unstable, insecure,
and ever changing. Our hope in Christ is: The rock of all ages. Colossians 7:1,
Christ in you, Titus 2:13.
Shooting stars versus the North Star:
2King 2
Last journey of Elijah and Elisha. The
process that brought Elisha to the place where he received the double mantle.
The generation that does the double! But the process required so Elisha can
walk in and not be ruined by the double anointing is important to look at.
Stars in the sky: shooting stars are
brilliant and lights up the night. Sometimes these stars shoot up quickly, gave
a bright brilliant burst, and falls.
Another type of star, the North Star, is a
fixed star. It doesn't release a brilliant flash, but has been used at all time
as a stationary light, giving us guidance in the path of navigation. Some
ministries are genuinely called, anointed, rises very fast with great glory,
but might not finish well. James Goll and Bill Johnson wants to finish well. It
is not so much about ambition as it is about pleasing the One. Want to be the
one used for clear navigation.
We each have a call, grace, purpose etc. We
also have hindrances which we want the Holy Spirit to identify so it can be
healed, or be aligned with others who have strengths we do not. While we become
more secure in our identity we also know that we do it better together.
