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South England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

presents

Elders Retreat 2014

Fate of the Fish: Implication for Church Elders

Elder’s Discipleship Plan for the Church

Elder’s Spirituality Factor in Church Growth

Spiritual Grafting: An Imperative for Church Elders

7th - 9th February 2014Goodboys Lane, Mortimer, Reading RG7 3AH

byJuvénal Balisasa

(Valley View University, Ghana)

Preamble:The Elders’ Retreat in the Context of Revival & Reformation

This workshop material is presented in the context of the theme “Revival and Reformation.” Obviously the theme is more in-reach than outreach oriented as far as its implementation is concerned. The Seventh-day Adventist church has been longing for revival and reformation as early as not long after its formal organization; that is, as early as the first decade of the 20th century.

Revival and reformation are still longed for by all leaders and church members alike. Next year (2005), the worldwide is meeting again to appraise the spiritual growth of its members and the fulfillment of its mission. Surprisingly, cries are still heard here and there that “why have we fasted, they say, and you have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and you take no notice? (Isaiah 58: 3).” Indeed, as we draw near to the GC session, many quarters of the church may start lamenting, saying “the harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved (Jeremiah 8: 20).”

Is the challenge due to lack of good teachings? Is the challenge stemming from lack of commitment to teachings? Could external forces such as hardships and persecutions be the impediments? None of

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the above seems to be the main likely cause. It may rather be necessary to explore the Church’s ways of implementing its good intentions such as revival, reformation, discipleship, etc.

This workshop material suggests a way of reflecting on the internal impediments on the subject of elders’ personal spiritual growth and their discipleship plans for the Church.

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Devotion 1: The Fate of the Fish

“From Fishers of Fish to Fishers of Men”

What’s the difference or similarity between fishers of fish and fishers of men? How does the transition between the two purposes of the same profession possibly occur? What did Jesus intend doing with fishers of fish in the business fishing for men?

Disciples were not called to change their business nor abandon their talents and skills, but rather their business mindset, target and purpose! Indeed, should the fishermen maintain their purpose and attitude toward the target of their former business, the end results of their new calling would be disastrous!

Listen to this short conversation of the fish with the fisher.

Fish: Do you have anything better than my

natural, life & habitat?Fisher’s possible answers:a. Well, come and let’s see!

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b. No idea, my dear. I’m only a messenger!c. Yes!d. No!But the reality is that fished fishes receive

different treatments from the fisher depending on her/his judgment criterion of the usefulness of the fish. Consequently, some fish end up being (1) thrown back into the waters, others (2) abandoned on the shore, others (3) quarantined in aquariums, etc. In any case, the ultimate fate of the fish is to end up either fried, smoked, or boiled for (4) somebody’s food!

Oh, what a Fate!

Definitely, fishers have to change the purpose of her/his business and the way this purpose lead them to treating fishes, if they would indeed be fishers of men.

Fishers of men with the mind of fishers of fish will turn saints to sinners and sinners to devils.

Examples fishers of men with the mindset of fishers of fish:

1 Samuel 2: 22: Fishers who feed of fish

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“Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.”

Ezekiel 34: 18: Fishers who starve fish“Is it not enough for you to feed on the good

pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?”

Matt. 23: 13, 14: Fishers who worsen the life of the fish

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrite! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to!”

Luke 9: 51-56: Fishers who subject fish to death

“…Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elijah did? But He turned and rebuked them, and said, ‘you do not know the manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them…’”

But the newly fished Fish’s hope is to be in better waters with cleaner and more

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abundant food, far away from predators, and with the aspiration to grow and reproduce itself, and possibly live forever. Unfortunately, this scarcely happens, because fishing for fish is in the interest of the fisher, not the fish! On the other hand, the purpose of Jesus’ business of fishing for men is diametrically the opposite of fishing for fish. It is in the absolute interest of the fish; nothing less, nothing more. Therefore, men and women should never be fished to be later thrown back into the world, abandoned to die at the gate of their sinful world, quarantined into man-made doctrinal and traditional concoctions, or consumed, in various ways, by would-be soul winners and disciplers!

The ultimate ‘fate’ of fished men is Victory in Jesus –whatever that may mean; nothing less, nothing more!

And so the Lord is asking the church elders –overseers of His flock:“Where is the Flock that was entrusted to you…? (Jeremiah 13: 20)

May it never be said of Seventh-day Adventist elders:

“…Because my flock lack a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my sheep but cared for themselves rather than for my sheep…! (Ezekiel 34:8-10)”

May the church elders continually heed to and concretely act on the words: “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your

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care…not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve…! (1Peter 5: 2-4)”

Reflection Questions: What is the fate of the “Fish” in your

church?

May the Lord have mercy on us! Amen.

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Workshop 1:Elder’s Discipleship Plan for the church

Why elder’s discipleship plan?

Why a discipleship workshop when the whole current quarterly Bible study lesson is all about discipleship?

The set of questions below about the Quarterly lesson on Discipleship opens another angle of reflection and ushers us into the essence of the workshop.

Does the Sabbath School quarterly offer an implementation plan?

Does the quarterly offer time for the implementation?

Has any local church drawn a discipleship implementation plan since the beginning of the quarter?

Does the GC expect Churches to implement the Various Sabbath School Lessons?

How do we harmonize the ongoing implementation plan, if any, with the ensuing weekly lessons that keep coming?

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An illustration: Lesson 4: Discipling Children

The Lesson in Brief (see first page of Teachers Comments for the lesson under study):

The Student will [all emphasis mine]:

Know: Realize that he or she doesn’t have to be a parent to be open to ministry to children. Every adult is a mentor of some kind.

Feel: Nurture the feeling that there’s nothing more valuable than identifying the talents of children and encouraging them to cultivate the talents in service to Christ.

Do: Make it a practice every week to interact in some positive way with the children in his or her church, school, or community.

Let’s probe into the above statements

What children’s age did we have in mind during our fourth lesson study?

To what extent did the children’s lesson(s) 4 predispose them to discipleship by adults?

To what extent did the lessons prepared for children correlate with the “discipling children” lesson prepared for parents during the week?

Was there any interaction between children’s ministries and adult Sabbath school to share ideas about

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the current spiritual needs and ministry potentials of the real, actual children in our real local church?

How did the lessons apply to our actual, real children as opposed to the either prototypical, or generic, or imaginary children in the lesson?

Have parents been given practical orientation for discipling their children, on the one hand, or the chance to share their challenges and strategies in discipling their children, on the other?

Does your church really know its children’s predispositions, challenges, excitements, and stages on their path to following Christ?

Were the parents and non-parent adults given some orientation regarding mentoring children, helping children identify and cultivate their talents in service to Christ during the “Discipling Children” lesson?

What has happened after the “Discipling Children” lesson? Any follow up? Any assessment and evaluation? Is “Discipling Children” on going in our church after lesson 4? Or was it supposed to have ended with the fourth week? If not, have the subsequent lessons been helping us better understand and keep on discipling children? Are the ensuing discipleship lessons connected to discipling children? Is there any

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logical flow from one discipleship lesson to another?

As we apply these and any other related questions to our various lessons for the quarter (and any other quarterly for that matter), a certain pattern emerges as the primary and unavoidable (but probably unwanted) outcome; that is, we seem to be longing to know rather than to be. This translates in more of intellectualism than character transformation.

And those whose real longing is indeed mere knowledge of facts will comfortably keep enjoying more juxtaposed and superposed lessons, while those longing for a spiritual transformation will, if not properly guided, secretly begin to hunt for alternatives which often land them into spiritualism through all purely or hybrid spiritualistic practices of eastern religions and western philosophies!

The result will be Christ’s spirituality being

gradually left suffocating in-between intellectualism and spiritualism, with innocent revival-seeking church members tossed at the mercy of the spiritual sophistries of the time!

Will the church be revived and reformed through mere intellectualism? Certainly! Except that such revival and reformation will be mere awakening to “naturalistic Christianity.” Will the church be revived and reformed through spiritualism. Sure! But to “emerging-church Christianity”!

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Are we seeing signs of “naturalistic Christianity” and “emerging-church Christianity” in the Seventh-day Adventist Church? Yes, unfortunately and undeniably!

However, since Seventh-day Adventism is none of these forms of “Christianity,” there is the need for the Church to reconsider its religious education model in order to give room for implementation of lessons in the lives of the believers.

The church may have to try presenting less topics and offering more room for praxis.

Oh, what will it be like if the church were to allow such a lesson as Discipleship to cover an entire quinquinnium!

Something like the following:Year one: Discipling the families in the church:

First quarter: Discipling parentsSecond quarter: Discipling non-parent

adultsThird quarter: Discipling adolescentsFourth quarter: Discipling children

Then, Year two: Discipling the rich and the poor in the

churchYear three: Discipling the leaders and the famous in the

churchYear four: Discipling the neighborhoodYear five: Discipling the Nations

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Such a plan would afford the local church the time to lay down strategies and attempt to implement them before new and different lessons follow. Such a plan is likely to catalyze revival and reformation, which are, in effect, nothing more and nothing than Discipleship. Is Discipleship not the process of reviving and reforming God’s image in the brokenness of repentant sinners? What else can discipleship? What else can be the end result of revival and reformation?

Hence the suggested elder’s discipleship plan for the local church in the context of the theme, “Revival and Reformation.”

The Elder’s Discipleship Plan for the church:

The plan should revolve around talent & spiritual gift maximization on the one hand, and minimizing weaknesses & spiritual lethargy, on the other. Below are suggested planning stages a sure-to-succeed discipleship plan may go through (and these stages apply to any topic or lesson study).

The elder/discipler’s self-discovery stage:

Who will be the disciplers? Do the elders consider themselves

true disciples?

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Do they have any evidence for being disciples?

Do they consider themselves revived and reformed?

If not, can they successfully “sell a medicine that has failed to cure them” of the same malady they are attempting to heal in the would-be disciples?

The church-status discovery stage:

Who are the people in the church and how far have they come on their discipleship journey?

Age groups Social/family status (divorced,

widowed, separated, breaking, unemployed, healthy, well-to-do, etc.)

Education background Ethnic and racial background Immigration status Religious background

The ministry patterning stage:

How everybody is concerned and will participate:

What is a specific discipleship lesson likely to mean to each category of people in the church?

What intentional message and praxis would the lesson attempt to offer to each category?

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Who will be in charge of each category?

The launching, monitoring, and evaluation stage:

Which part of the discipleship plan is needed by all categories? Start with it.

What will be the role of the disciples in each phase of the discipleship plan? Specify it.

Any challenge along the way? Jot them down.

Any evidence of transformation? Identify them.

Any need and way of improvement? State them.

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The celebration stage:

Periodic Testimonies Period Sending out Inauguration of life-long ministries Launching of the ensuing lesson A Practical Example: “Discipling

Children”

The self-discovery stage:

Who are the disciplers? Do the elders consider themselves true disciples? Do the elders consider themselves revived? This stage will carefully be considered under the “ Elder’s Spirituality ” workshop shortly in this document.

The church-status discovery stage:

Who are the children in our church and how far have they come on their discipleship journey?

Age groups:How many kids do we have in preschool,

kindergarten, primary, powerpoint, cornerstone, etc.?

Social/Family statuses How many kids are from each of the

following homes: divorced, widowed, separated, breaking, unemployed, healthy, sick, well-to-do homes, etc.?

Education background

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How many are in school?How many are dropouts?How many are in Adventist, non-Adventist

mission, or public schools?

Ethnic and racial backgroundIs it an issue in your church for one to be

black, white, African, European, Asian, or South American, etc.? If so, what is/are the issue(s)? How could it/they play in discipling kids together or separately?

Immigration statusHow many kids are from permanent

resident, illegal immigrant, or citizen homes? Is there any obvious interaction or connection between their reason of being in your church and their “home” status?

Religious backgroundHow many kids were born from born-

Adventist, converted, or non-Adventist parents? How much of Adventism do you see in in them? How much of non-Adventism is obvious in them? Are they some traits that may enhance or impede the discipleship plan?

The ministry patterning stage: How everybody is concerned and will

participate: What specific discipleship activities

will be assigned all parents? What specific discipleship activities

will be assigned to clusters of parents according to children categories?

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What specific discipleship activities will be assigned to the child’s parent(s)?

What specific discipleship activities will be assigned to all non-parent adult disciplers?

What specific discipleship activities will be assigned to clusters of non-parent adult disciplers?

What specific discipleship activities will be assigned to all non-parent youth disciplers?

What specific discipleship activities will be assigned to clusters of non-parent youth disciplers?

What specific discipleship activities will be assigned to the child’s youth sibling(s)?

What intentional message and discipleship activities would the lesson attempt to implement for each category?

What specific discipleship activities will be assigned to the children in each category?

Who will be in charge of discipling the parents of each category? How exemplary are their lives? What do they need to know about the learning patterns of their specific category? Are learning materials available? Are the materials critically contextualized for the category/cluster and its environment?

How will the categories be celebrated?

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Who will be liaising with all the categories in search for possible connectors between them?

How will they be gradually merged into one Children discipleship team?

The launching, monitoring, and evaluation stage:

Which part of the children discipleship plan is needed by all categories? Start with it.

What will be the role of the children in each phase of the discipleship plan? Make it ready at the moment the lesson is given.

Any challenge along the way? The discipler shares it with the cluster leader, the cluster parents, and fellow disciplers. The parents share it with disciplers and cluster leaders, and probably other parents too.

Any evidence of transformation? To be shared as in case of “challenge” above.

Any need for and way of improvement? Disciplers, parents, and cluster leaders discuss, define, and try it together.

The celebration stage: Periodic Testimonies by Children,

Parents, Disciplers, Cluster leaders, elders, other believers.

Periodic Sending out: Encourage children, parents, and disciplers to attempt the application of the ongoing

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discipleship on close friends, acquaintances, and neighbors.

Inauguration of life-long ministries Stage & Launching of New Lesson:

Encourage and equip faithful children discipler toward investing their lives in children disciplehip.

Introduce the new discipleship lesson and help the church see how it appropriately fits into the spiritual stage of the church at the moment.

NB: This plan should span over, at least, a

quarter. The subsequent quarterly discipleship plan should ideally concern a group in the church that is directly and closely linked to children, such as either discipling parent or discipling the youth.

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Discipling ChildrenPreliminary Investigation GridAge Group:……………………….......

Name Family

Educ.

Ethnic

Race

Imgr Relig.Backg

r.

Key Talent

Key Challenge

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

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Categories

Name of Category

Key Characteristics of

Category

Kids Serial

#s

Prospective

Leader

Initial

Needs

Initial lesson

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1

2

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Workshop 2:The Elder’s Spirituality Factor in Church Spiritual Growth

What is Christian spirituality? To what can it be likened to?

It is the continuous exposure of a to the voice and presence of God in His written to the extent that God’s image forcefully begins to resurface from and gradually overshadows human brokenness. It is like a wilderness continuously subjected to gentle rains that eventually sees all its hitherto hibernated and latent seeds germinate to cover and vivify its bareness! Christian spirituality is therefore not magical; it is not about emptying one’s mind for some supernatural invasion or evasion; neither is it about deifying oneself in the name of having been made “a little lower than angels/gods,” or related deceptions of scientology such as the various forms of “soul upgrade through DNA activation!”

Christian spirituality does not result from mere “40-day-prayer & fasting” enterprises, nor does it miraculously rise from mere ‘faithful’ church attendance, returning of tithe, and giving of offerings. It has very little, if any, to do with secluding oneself from the world and hiding in caves, caverns, and

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crevices –away from the worldly, to experience the supernatural. It is not even merely the fruit of being a church officer such as an elder.

Christian spirituality is about living real life, God’s way, in the real world. It results from uninterrupted listening, conversing, reasoning with God on His written word, and following His biddings in our daily dealings. Try something else and you will certainly be spiritual, but not a Christian!

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Who is a church elder?

Biblical definition “A bishop [elder] then must be

blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. (1 Timothy 3: 2-7)

“Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens” (Ex. 18:21).

“Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. . .Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you” (1 Tim.

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4:12-16).

“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears” (Acts 20:17, 28-31)

Church Operational Definitions:

The elder is an Assistant to the pastor. The pastoral work of the church

should be shared by the pastor and the elders… Elders should be able to conduct the services of the church and minister in both word and doctrine when the assigned Pastor is unavailable However, elders should not be chosen primarily because of social position or speaking ability, but because of their consecrated lives and leadership abilities…In counsel with the pastor, the elders should visit members, minister to the sick, foster prayer ministries, arrange or lead out in anointing services and child dedications, encourage the disheartened, and assist in other

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pastoral responsibilities. As undershepherds, elders should exercise constant vigilance over the flock. (Church Manual, pp.72, 73)

Elders must be recognized by the church as strong spiritual leaders and must have good reputations both in the church and community. In the absence of a pastor, elders are the spiritual leaders of the church and by precept and example must seek to lead the church into a deeper and fuller Christian experience. (Church Manual, p.71)

As spiritual leaders, elders are responsible for encouraging members to develop a personal relationship with Jesus by strengthening their habits of personal Bible study and prayer. Elders should model a commitment to Bible study and prayer. An effective personal prayer life of every member, supporting all ministries and programs of the local church, will enhance the church’s mission. Elders may ask the board to appoint a council to assist in this role of development and encouragement. (Church Manual, p.74)

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Elder’s Personal Spirituality AssessmentVT: Very True; T: True; ST: Somewhat True; NT: Not True; NAT:

Not At All True

VT T ST NT NAT

1 I believe live a consecrated life to God2 I know I possess leadership abilities3 I live a prayerful life

4 I draw and implement a visitation plan 5 The church recognizes me as a strong

spiritual leader6 I have good reputation in the church7 I have good reputation in the

community8 I am leading the church into

a deeper and fuller Christian experience9 I have strong habits of personal Bible

study10

I avail myself as a model for commitment to Bible study

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I avail myself as a model for commitment to prayer

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During my tenure of office the

church’s spirituality is 14

I am a man of truth1

5My daily dealings show that I

fear God16

I hate covetousness1

7I have the abilities to teach

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I am indeed a husband/wife of one

wife/husband19

I am temperate2

0I am hospitable

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I am not greedy for money2

2I am not quarrelsome

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I rule my house well

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Reflection on the assessment

Looking at your self-assessment, would you still recommend yourself to the church for the office of elder?

Assuming you are indeed as you have assessed yourself, are your life and ministry building church members’ lives and leading them into ministries?

Assuming the church knows you differently from your self-assessment, do you sense any danger of your remaining in the office of elder?

To what extent do you think the Lord’s assessment of you is in agreement with your self-assessment? (Underline one: Very Closely; Closely; I am Not Sure; Distantly; Very Distantly)

How to develop Personal Spirituality

Spiritual growth or development is in no wise an overnight wonder! It is a continuous and intentional involvement into spiritual exercises that are intended to make you continually reside in the environment of the presence of God, and help you gradually know yourself the same way God knows you. But in all, you make sure you do neither embark on self-mutilation practices like the 11th century Opus Dei movement, nor follow the 21st

century Emerging Church into self-deification. All you need is to meet your God through hearing and practicing His written word.

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Some stages help us undertake a conscious spiritual growth enterprise. Consider and practice the following:

The repentance aspect: “Examine yourselves, to see whether you

are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test.(2 Corinthians 13: 5)”

“For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7: 15-25)

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Questions: Please write down at least one reason for your answer

Are you really in the faith? Any ‘cloud of witnesses’ to your being

in the faith? Are you who you appear to be? Are you better or worse than who you

are appear to be? Is there any sin that defines who you

are?

The conversion aspect: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue

in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life…Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.( Romans 6: 1-4, 12-14)” “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who

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loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2: 20)”

Questions: Please write down at least one reason for your answer

Have you really died to your sin? Which sins?

Is it true that it is no longer you who live, but someone else lives in you?

Is it really Christ living in you?

The surrender aspect:

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3: 8-11)”

Questions: Please write down at least one reason for your answer

Do you truly count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ?

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Have you really surrendered everything to Jesus?

Are you really forsaking all for Him? How much do you put in God’s

ministries as compared to your personal or family investments?

If you were to choose between the collapse of your businesses and the collapse of your local Church, what will you sincerely and readily opt for?

The prayer aspect:

What usually dominates your prayer requests? Is it about “all other things” or “God’s kingdom and its righteousness?” A quick review of your usual prayer points will tell you a lot about your spiritual orientation. The best of cultivating a kingdom-oriented prayer life is to pray daily the Lord’s Prayer with sincerely and meaning. Consider it carefully and with all seriousness.

The Meaning of Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6: 9-13)The Lord’s Prayer is arguably one of the

commonest Bible passages known to virtually all and sundry in the Christendom. It is recited in churches, schools, and even in personal prayer. Unfortunately, this prayer is almost always recited with little thought about its practical meaning and implications. Little do we realize that it makes a lot of

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assumptions about our relationship with God, even though most such assumptions do not apply to all of us! For the Lord’s Prayer to make sense in the ears of God, the petitioner must

Be a child of God and not the child of the devil (compare with John 8:44)

Live a life that hallows God’s Name Be involved in activities that hasten

the coming of the Lord Live a life that is surrendered to God’s

will Live a life that is worth feeding and

sustaining (see 2 Thessalonians 3: 10) Forgive and keep no records of

people’s wrong Be willing to be led by God rather than

the devil Live a life that does not usurp God’s

glory, honour, and authority.

Now, listen to the Lord’s Prayer in the light of the above undeniably biblical facts. Whenever we recite the Lord’s Prayer, He expects us to be telling Him the following:

You are our Father because we are daily dying to self and Christ lives in us (John 1: 12)

Your image is obvious in our lives The mind of your Son is in us Those who live with us can testify that

we are Your daughters and sons! We are hallowing Your Name because

you called us out of darkness in your

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marvelous light so that we can proclaim your praises (1Pet. 2: 9)

We respect your Name greatly We reverence you We live to honour you We fear and worship your Name

We are witnessing to hasten your Kingdom in, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the utmost part of the world (John2: 17; Acts 1: 8)

In London In Bristol In Cardiff In Torbay In Falmouth In Isle of Wight In Brighton In Canterbury In Thurso In fact, anywhere!

Your will is being done is our personal life as it is in Heaven (Gal 2: 20)

In our words In our silence In our thoughts In the emptiness of our heart In our actions In our inactions

Please equip us with what it takes to stay on course going about your errands (Ephesians 6: 12-18)

Physically Spiritually Intellectually Relationally

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We are sometimes failing you; please, forgive us (Rom 7: 15-24)

Wash us Turn our stumbling blocks into

stepping stones Accept us back into the kingdom

relationship and business Our fellowmen are sometimes failing

us; but we forgive them (Exodus 32: 32; 1Pet 3: 9)

We pray that you forgive them or remove our names from your book of life

We accept their apology We welcome them back into the

relationship if they are ready Please lead us –but not into temptation

(Jer. 9: 24; Gal. 6: 14) –to : Witnessing for you, but not to praise

ourselves Higher ground, but not for self

exaltation Holistic prosperity, but not through

satanic means Through valleys of the shadow of

death, but not to succumb to the enemy’s sword

Because this Kingdom we are hastening, the power to hasten it, and even the glory that results from kingdom expansion, all belong to you! (Zech. 4: 6)

So, for your Name’s and Kingdom’s sake, keep us going about your errands!

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Questions: Please write down at least one reason for your answer

Can you really pray the Lord’s Prayer with meaning?

Is your lifestyle hallowing His Name? Are your daily dealings hastening His

kingdom? Do you really forgive those who

trespass against you? Is it true that your life and leadership

style are ascribing all the power, glory and honor to God?

The Witnessing aspect: “For we are the aroma of Christ to God

among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing // For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! (1 Corinthians 2: 15; 9: 16)”

Questions: Please write down at least one reason for your answer

What image does your life mostly reflect –Christ’s or Self’s?

How do the saints feel about you? What image do evildoers see in you –a

threat, or a co-worker? Who dominates your secrecy and your

outlook –self or the Saviour?

The study aspect: 37

“Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2: 15)”

Questions: Please write down at least one reason for your answer

How much Bible study do you do? How much SOP study do you do? How much messages do you prepare? How much Gospel information do you

avail to the Church? How much Christian literature do you

buy and read?

Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord God of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,

O God of Israel!

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Devotion 2: Spiritual Grafting-An Imperative for Church Elders

““If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root. (Romans 11:17) ”

The text above is describing the process by which repentant sinners are willingly cut of from the degenerating, endangered human polluted mind and stony heart (the two defoliated trees on the left in the picture represent the state of Adam and Eve after their fall) and are miraculously socketed into the wounds of the Saviour (the evergreen tree on the right in the

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picture represents the ever-living and life-giving nature of Jesus)

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Let’s probe further: Importance of grafting

[NB: Please, as you read the following, keep in mind what happened at Calvary!]

Grafting is a technique often used to preserve the life and productivity of species, which are unable to survive or reproduce under the surrounding natural or exotic conditions. In other words, the endangered or unproductive species is grafted on the stock of a resistant species for survival, reproduction, and productivity.

The grafting processes, challenges, benefits, and even language are, arguably, the most expressive ways of describing what happens between a repenting soul and the Saviour. Other “salvation languages” such as sociological (John 1: 11-13), legal (Romans 5: 1-5), and military (Ephesians 6: 11-18), though excellent in picturing the redemption story, cannot match the blatant providential similarities between vegetative grafting processes and what actually happens to Christ and us for our sake!

Bible passages such as “By His wounds we were healed! (Isaiah 53:

4-10)” and “Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself (Dan 9: 26)” will be difficult to understand for non-eyewitnesses like us!

In the same way, we will find it difficult to grasp Christ’s redemption work as expressed in the concept of “the vine and its branches”

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where Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. (John 15: 5, 6)”

We can be inspired by grafting in plant to understand that being born again requires a temporary death during which we are cut off from our sinful mother stem and transported to the holy resistant stock –even Jesus Christ.

Many of us think we are in Christ but have never been cut off. Many have been cut off but never grafted and are consequently weathering somewhere in-between their sinful mother stem and the bleeding Saviour!

Have we been successfully grafted? If not, notches are still available in Christ’s hands, feet, and ribs for your insertion and mine!

Challenges of grafting

The WoundBeing grafted on Jesus requires that we be

cut from our mother stem –the wild, 42

unproductive, endangered vine. This causes us injury and pain. We see these expressed through

Broken relationships Loss of job Loss of grades and dismissal from

school Loss of business Spiritual harassment Temptation, Physical assault and even Death in some cases.

“Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother- in- law against her daughter- in- law and daughter- in- law against mother. (Luke 12: 51-53)”

But we need to remember that it is better to be wounded and inserted in Jesus than to remain natural and barren –liable to perishing and extinction.

Death on ChristIn the process of grafting, technicians

sometime experience unsuccessful grafting due to some causes including poor flow of sap from the stock into the twig, infection of the

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graft wound, and adverse whether conditions. This is best expressed, theologically in the parable of the sower (Matthew 13: 1-23). Many people leave the world to join the body of Christ but end up dying while hanging on the risen Savior due to improper connections and environmental distractors or predators. The result is what Paul is inspired to say, “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power (2 Tim 3: 5)” In other words, we are all in Christ’s Church or company of true believers, but not all of us are alive!

Many have indeed been grafted but died on the stock due to infections and obstructions. Others have been grafted and excelled in growth for sometime, but later died of complacency, self-sufficiency, and unwarranted self-exposure to hazardous environmental predators (Proverbs 26: 12; 1Peter 5: 8).

A Prayer worth offering:“Search me, God, and know my heart; test

me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139: 23, 24)”

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Spiritual Air LayeringAir layering is another interesting

illustration of spiritual life. It occurs (either naturally or artificially) in species that have some properties of easily growing roots at the least contact with the soil in a dark milieu. Lower and overly elongated branches of such a plant stretch out, get lowered and, upon touching the ground, develop roots and henceforth begin to feed on a mixture of food from the mother tree and from the newly developed roots. Sometimes, the lowering of branched is also due to poor flow of sap from the mother stem in add and soil proximity.

The end result is illustrated below:

New plant begins to reproduce itself

Such is often the case in spiritual growth! Though we get grafted and grow in Christ, it is easy for us to be severed from the flow of God’s food and gradually begin to feed on a mixture of truth with falsehood, or Christian spirituality and Satanism. The result: we are neither in the world nor in the Lord. And our offspring are continually worse off since they

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were born in a mixture and not connected directly to the Lord. They are in the church simply because they are our Children. And they are not in the Lord simply because they are our offspring.

Will there be revival in the Church some day? Yes! It will come shortly after our grafting wound is healed.

Will our children ever know the Lord? Yes. As soon as we are uprooted from the new soils where we’ve developed unwarranted adventitious (not Adventist, please) roots! Or as soon as they decide to be cut off from us (wild vine!) and independently connect to the Lord!

Lord, have mercy on your Church Elders.

A few tips for those who care to remain in Christ:

Remember you can easily die, since you are but a graft (Romans 11: 17-21)

Remember your natural nature (Ps 51: 5)

Keep the heights, do not go down (Neh. 6: 3)

Stretch out, but do not depart (John 15: 5)

Maintain inlet, check what flows in (2Tim4: 3,4)

May the Elders of God’s Church indeed resolve to “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. If you remain in

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me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you. This is my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples (John 15: 7, 8)”

Reflection Questions Have we really been cut off from our

sinful mother stem and grafted into the wounds of the Messiah?

Have we really been taken out of our natural sin-settlement, spiritual comfort zones, addictions, inherent or acquired evil habits, and so-called genetic make-ups such as black or white witchcraft, homosexual, and polygamous phenotypes?

Are we alive in Him?

Oh Lord! Have mercy on us –your elders! Uproot us from our new soils and revive our connection to you! Amen.

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Must-Read Books

Faith Undone by Roger Oakland (2007)

The Power of Prayer by Ellen G. White (1994)

That I may Know Him by Ellen G. White (1964)

Incarnate Leadership: 5 Leadership Lessons from the Life of Jesus by Bill Robinson (2009)

Steward Leader: Transforming People, Organizations and Communities by Scott R. Rodin (2010)

Ellen White on Leadership: Guidance for Those Who Influence Others by Cindy Tutsch (2008)

I used to be Perfect (2nd ed.) by George R. Knight (2001)

Called to Teach by William R. Yount (1999)

Pia Desideria by Philip Jacob Spencer (1964)

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (1952) The Christian Mind: How Should A

Christian Think? (3rd ed.) by Harry Blamires (2005)

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