2021-03-22 07:29:44
Your Monday Morning
THE CHURCH COUNCIL STADIUM PROGRAM
John 17:20-21; 11:41-42
We give praise to God for what happened last week at the national stadium as all churches joined together to give thanks to God. We at Beza are not the body of Christ. We are a part of the body of Christ.
The Temple
In the Old Testament there was no turning to God without turning to the Temple. In the New Testament the principle is the same but the building has changed. 1Peter 2:5 says that we are all living stones. And Ephesians 2 tells us that as we are joined together, the building rises. There is no solo driving in the kingdom. We are all part of the body.
The blessing on the land comes from God, but it comes through His Temple. The book of Ezekiel describes how God restored the land by restoring the Temple. Even the salt waters of the Dead Sea were made fresh. The New Testament language is “salt of the earth,” “light of the world” and “a city on a hill.” (Matthew 5)
It has been said of the events of last week that this has never been done in the church before. It means that something that has never been done before is about to happen in the nation. This is the Lord’s doing.
But…
In John 11 Jesus prayed at the tomb of Lazarus, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me…” When praying for His disciples in John 17 He said, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one…” (that’s us). By juxtaposing these texts, we can conclude that we should not pray for church unity, but rather we should praise for church unity. This is because Jesus has already prayed, and the Father always hears Him. This is what happened last week.
Some have raised concerns about certain ministries and teachers that attended the program: “It was a good program, but…” I think this is missing the point. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, Scripture says that his hands and feet were wrapped in graveclothes. It would be foolish to reject the miracle of the resurrection because you don’t agree with the graveclothes. What we have witnessed as the church in Ethiopia is nothing short of a Lazarus resurrection, and resurrection is resurrection!
Additionally, let us keep reading: verse 44 says that the same Jesus who commanded Lazarus to come out of the grave also said, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” This is His doing, not ours. As the graveclothes comes off the church, the graveclothes will come off the nation and the continent. From this place, a blessing shall flow…
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