Chapter 10: Building On A Sure Foundation:

In recent revivals a high percentage of those who committed themselves to the Lord were lost again to the world. This happened chiefly because the church was not prepared to care for the new believers. The Lord is giving His church a strategy so that this will not happen again. We must accept this mandate as both the highest honor and highest responsibility with which we could ever be entrusted. These are the children of the King of kings whom He is trusting us to spiritually feed and protect. We must have spiritual nets that are strong enough to hold the great ingathering that is coming. To do this the church in general must raise her vision, strategy and mutual co-operation to a new level. Those who gather must be properly linked to those who can teach and help lay a proper foundation in a new believer's life. As one friend of mine put it: "Those who catch the fish must learn to give them to those who will clean them." If those who are equipped and anointed to catch the fish are then obliged to stop and clean them, the whole process will slow down. This has caused the end of some revivals. Just as the apostles and other ministries in the first century learned to work in harmony, with one planting and another coming along to water the seeds that were planted, both knowing that only God could cause the increase, we must lay aside our selfinterests and do the same.

True Conversion:

In the first century the only ones who were counted as converts were those who were "added to the church." The great commission was not to go out and make converts, but to make disciples. In our evangelical zeal to save people from damnation we may sometimes be guilty of sealing their damnation with a salvation message that has only inoculated them against the true salvation. Is a man truly converted who does not go on to be a living, functioning member of the body of Christ? According to the biblical testimony we would have to doubt it. Philip is the only example that we have in Scripture of a pure evangelist. When he had stirred the city of Samaria with the gospel, apostles were then dispatched to follow up his work, ensuring that the new believers were sealed with the Holy Spirit. When the Lord sent out His disciples in Luke 10, He sent them only to places "... where He Himself was going to come" (verse 1). In other words, He only sent His ministries to where He was going to follow up their work. Because there is a premium on the laborers for the harvest, and all of our time and effort is precious, we must be discerning not to waste our efforts going anywhere we are not sure that the Lord is going to follow up the work. The Lord does not just want us to bear fruit, but to bear fruit that remains. As laborers we must think strategically, and we must think as teams. Many of the large evangelistic crusades today are planned for months, or even years. Churches are mobilized, intercessory teams are established, and an army of counselors are trained in the targeted city or region. Even so, some of the great evangelists of our time have lamented that only about five percent of those who make a "decision" for Christ actually continue more than a couple of weeks in the faith. Certainly we should be very thankful for this five percent! For some of these ministries this has still added up to multitudes of true conversions that have born lasting fruit. Even so, neither can we be satisfied with this low percentage of fruit that remains. This low retention rate of people who make a commitment to the Lord relates to both the poor quality of the decision and the ineffectiveness of the nets. The quality of a decision may or may not have anything to do with the evangelist. The Lord Jesus was obviously the ultimate evangelist, yet on several occasions most of those who followed Him departed. As He explained, this particular work of the kingdom is like casting a dragnet. Anyone who has fished with a dragnet learns quickly that only a small portion of the catch can be kept. It is also true that commitment has become an increasingly diluted virtue in modern times. Both initiative and resolve are required for advancement, spiritual or otherwise, and these are directly related to a person's willingness to take responsibility for his own actions. Blame-shifting was the immediate result of the fall (Adam blamed the woman and the woman blamed the serpent), and those who blame others, or their circumstances, for failure, are abiding in their sins. The enemy has been very successful in dulling the vision and potential of modern man to embrace the cross by inculcating a "victim mentality." True repentance is impossible until we admit that we have sinned and need forgiveness. In an attempt to reach modern man, many have adjusted their gospel to appeal to man's needs, which has profoundly diluted the gospel and its power to save men from this thick and deceptive veil.

Saved From What:

There is a widespread mentality in the church today that men will not come to the Lord until they are in desperate circumstances. Circumstances can be used to get someone's attention, but they are by no means required, or even important. The only thing that a person needs to come to repentance is the conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit. The reason for this mentality that desperate circumstances are required to bring one to Christ is because our modern gospel has been changed to a message that He came to save us from our troubles instead of from our sins. In John 6 we see that when Jesus walked on the earth many followed Him for different reasons. Some did so because they saw the miracles; others followed because He fed them with the loaves and fishes. Discerning this He challenged the multitude by declaring that, if they did not eat His flesh and drink His blood, they had no part in Him. Because of this "hard saying" we read that "Many therefore of His disciples, when they heard this said, 'This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?'... As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him any more" (verses 60,66). By preaching the power of God and the provision of God we can get multitudes to follow Jesus, but they will not partake of Him. When men are compelled to follow Jesus because He will take care of their problems, then, when their problems continue, or other ones arise, they will cease to believe the message they were given—and they should! It was a lie. "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22).

We are not delivered from tribulations, we are delivered through them. However, when a person comes to Jesus because he is convicted of sin, he embraces the cross. The greater the depth of conviction, the greater the grip that he will have on it. When we are convicted of how continuously evil we are, we will pick up the cross everyday and carry it with us everywhere. When such are then challenged to see if they too will depart from Him, they will respond as Peter did: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life..." (John 6:68).

These are not so captivated by the temporary provisions, but by the eternal provision. Then the provision and the power of God will be appreciated, but kept in their proper place.

The Cost Of Discipleship:

The Lord Jesus made it hard to join and easy to leave. He wanted those who joined to be committed unto death. In fact, He often required those who followed Him to leave everything that they had behind. He then said and did things that appeared to purposely sift out those who might not have been totally committed, or who were committed for the wrong reasons. Everything about the Lord, and His apostles, seemed designed to purposely repel those who might come to Him for any other reason than a heart conviction that He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life which was worth dying for. Somehow modern evangelism seems to have reversed this wisdom of the gospel—we make it as easy as we can for men to join, and then as hard as we can for them to leave. This is a foundational issue, and it affects the quality of the foundation of what we are building. Much of what is now being promulgated as the gospel may be actually dooming men to damnation because it compels them to feel safe though their condition, in fact, has them in terrible spiritual jeopardy.

Make The Wedding Grand:

I have now been married for seventeen years, and I still think that one of our most difficult times was preparing for the wedding. It was then that I came to understand that any relationship that can survive preparation for a large wedding should easily be able to endure anything else that comes against it. However, the wedding day itself was one of the most wonderful days of my life. It was an unforgettable demarcation point from which my whole life changed, almost as much as when I was born again. On that day I knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that I was no longer single but married. This was far more than just a legal change in my status—my heart was changed on my wedding day. I already loved my wife to be, but from that day it was more than love—we were united as one. Our marriage has suffered many pressures but never once has it entered my mind that dissolving the marriage was an option. As a pilot I was often alone in foreign cities with an abundance of temptations, but by grace I never fell to them. I would like to say that I was kept by my commitment, but it took more than that. It was love for my wife and family more than commitment. Commitment is important, but love is more powerful. Our gospel is tragically flawed if it does not accurately present the cross. Our discipleship is tragically flawed if we do not lead believers past the cross to a personal, intimate, love affair with Jesus. Commitment may only go as far as our will power, but a man or woman in love will never quit. Commitment and will power are virtues, just as self-control is listed as a fruit of the Spirit, but love is the greatest power because "God is love" (I John 4:8).

In Hebrews 6:1 &2 we are exhorted: "Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings, and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment." First we must note here that this exhortation does not exhort us to leave the teachings about Christ, but rather the elementary teachings about Him. We do not press on to maturity by leaving the teachings of Christ, but by taking hold of the advanced revelations of Him. Jesus is the Beginning and the End. He is everything. All things were made through Him, for Him, and all things will be summed up in Him. There is a point after the foundation has been properly laid, that we must go on to construct the rest of the building. However, that does not mean that we no longer have the foundation, but once it is laid we always have it with us. Obviously, everything in our Christian life is built upon repentance and faith toward God. We will never receive anything from Him as a result of our own merit or maturity, but because of His blood. Once these truths have been properly secured in our foundation, we may go on to greater revelations of Christ, but everything else will be founded upon these truths and must be fastened to them if the building is to stand. Marriage is a covenant so grand that it is deserving of the pomp and ceremony that we devote to it with our weddings. It is true that the wedding is not the marriage, but a ritual by which we commit ourselves to marriage, and such rituals are important. They help to impress upon us the seriousness of the covenant we are making. Our covenant is not the marriage, but it is the foundation upon which the marriage is built, and one that is designed to promote the love that will constitute a strong marriage. Baptism is our spiritual wedding to the Lord. It is a grand and powerful act. It is one that He decreed and it cannot be improved upon to accomplish its purpose. Yet, the modern altar call, that is not even biblical, has supplanted baptism as the ceremony of commitment. This could well be one of the primary reasons why "decisions" for the Lord often remain shallow. In the New Testament, when someone made the commitment to follow Jesus they were immediately baptized. If water was not close an immediate search was made for it so that the new convert could be immersed. Baptism is not our spiritual life, it is not our communion, it is a ritual. However, keeping the sanctity of this God ordained ritual can have a lot to do with the quality of the conversion—which is our commitment to no longer live for ourselves, but for Jesus, married to Him. An important part of repairing the spiritual nets so that they can hold the catch includes restoring baptism to its rightful place. Will it be inconvenient to always immediately baptize those who give their lives to Jesus? Yes. But our addiction to convenience has been a primary factor causing us to compromise both the gospel and our own spiritual lives. Somewhere this addiction must be cast off, so why not at the beginning? If we are going to compel converts to submit to Jesus as Lord, how are we justified in so easily abandoning his directives?

Tending His Sheep:

The biblical term for conversion is to be "born again." There are probably few creatures in this world more helpless than a newborn human being. A mother's care for her newborn is almost a continuous endeavor. The same is true of a newborn Christian. Few will survive if they are just fed once or twice a week. When there is true revival all the saints want to do is meet together, because there is nothing in this world more exciting than a move of God. This is also the Holy Spirit's way of ensuring the care of the new believers who come to Jesus during times of revival. However, what about those who come when there is no revival? Overall, many more people come to the Lord between the waves of revival than during the revivals themselves, which are usually very shortlived. There are also probably far more converts who slip through the nets when there is no revival going on than when there is. I have been credited (and accused) of being one who has had a lot to do with awakening the church to the impending harvest. This was a burden that was given to me and I am very thankful for the seemingly worldwide awakening to these great times that are upon us. The subject of revival is one of my greatest loves. However, one of my greatest concerns has also been much of the church's overemphasis on revival. Some have become like the cripple sitting by the pool waiting for someone to stir the waters, while the Son of God Himself, is standing right next to them. Regardless of how clearly we are able to perceive impending events, we will not be ready for them if we fail to see what the Lord wants to do with us TODAY. The fields are already white for harvest. Many are already reaping. There are genuine revivals igniting in many countries now. Before the end these waves will sweep over every place, but if they are not yet in our city or locality, let us use the time wisely, drawing closer to the Lord, and equipping the saints for the work of the ministry for which they will all be called. One way that we can do this is to treat each new believer with whose care we are entrusted as if he were a hundred. If we are faithful with the few the Lord will then give us the hundreds. Presently the Holy Spirit is searching the earth for such faithful shepherds. The authority given to the faithful will be increased. Almost every new believer will require day and night fellowship and teaching for a period of time. If you are a pastor, and reading this causes a dread to come over you because you cannot possibly comprehend this massive endeavor, that is a sure indication that you have not properly equipped the saints who you have been given to equip. Jesus said, "my yoke is easy, and my burden is light..." (Matthew 11:30), because He has given every one of us many others to help us carry this responsibility. A primary reason for excessive burdens in ministry is our own failure to share the burdens with those He has given us for that purpose. Tending the Lord's sheep does not just mean keeping them all in a big sheep pen and throwing them some food a couple of times a week—it means turning the sheep into shepherds! Won't this threaten your job? Of course. But you will never get a true promotion in the Spirit until you have worked your way out of your present position. You are not a true pastor unless your ministry is producing other pastors. You are not a true teacher unless you are producing other teachers. Those who are not reproducing their own ministry in others are "seedless fruit."

The Three Levels Of Ministry:

The Lord provided ministry on basically three levels: He had food for the multitudes, then the twelve, then the three. During the first part of His ministry He devoted most of His attention to the multitudes. However, as soon as He had identified those who would be the leaders of His church, He began to give most of His attention to them. A truly balanced ministry will always gravitate toward this same pattern —giving more attention to developing those who can take their place than to the multitudes. Amazingly, as soon as just one of His disciples received the revelation of who Jesus was, the Lord gave the keys to the kingdom to that disciple and started making plans to leave them! This shocked Peter to the point that He rebuked the Lord, who rebuked him back for not setting his mind of God's interests, but man's. When the Lord went to the cross and began His departure from this realm, His disciples looked anything but ready to assume leadership of the church —they had deserted Him! However, the Lord never took the keys of the kingdom back from Peter, or His commissions from the others. He fully trusted the Holy Spirit to make these men into what they should be, and to build a church against which the gates of hell could not prevail. Jesus was unquestionably the greatest Leader of all time. If He could trust His eternal work to a church that was in such a condition, how much more should we be able to trust those we are leading with responsibility, also? Those who are too afraid of potential mistakes to properly delegate authority may be able to get a lot done by themselves, but they are failures as spiritual leaders.

Seminaries Of The Future:

The only seminary that the apostles knew was "on the job training." The only seminary that their disciples knew was "on the job training." Some seminaries and Bible schools have added a great deal of depth and richness to the church. However, they have also weakened the church to the degree that they have eclipsed the Lord's own ordained method for preparing ministries—personal discipleship. This must be recovered in the days to come or the church will be tragically unprepared for what is coming. Education is fundamental to Christianity. Education is illumination, or light, and we are called to be the light of the world. The kind of education that is provided in seminaries can help greatly to prepare one for ministry, if it is true to the Scriptures. Seminaries do allow for some students to be discipled to a degree by some of the finest teachers. However, if we really want to be a biblical people we must again view the local church as the ultimate seminary. This will become a major move of the Holy Spirit, and will accelerate as we progress toward the end of this age. Indeed, the Lord physically left the church in what appeared to be a disastrous condition. He did this because He trusted the Holy Spirit. One of the primary reasons why the church today is so weak and unprepared for the times is not under-preparation, but over-preparation. We are requiring our future leaders to be much more than what God requires, because we do not trust the Holy Spirit enough. As the time gets shorter, we will have less and less time to equip future leaders. We will have to give them greater and greater responsibilities with increasingly less training. However, the Holy Spirit will make up the difference, and that will make these leaders some of the greatest the world has ever known. His grace is sufficient. His strength is still made perfect in weakness.

Reaching The World From Home:

The Scriptures give the most effective strategy for evangelizing the world while staying right at home, yet this strategy has been almost completely neglected by the church. God's plan for evangelizing the world was the simplicity of showing hospitality to foreigners, to love them and then teach them the ways of God. The Lord first gave this strategy to the children of Israel while they were in the wilderness: For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty and the awesome God, who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien, by giving him food and clothing. So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt (Deuteronomy 10:17-19).

Here we see that God loves the foreigners and wants to give them provisions. The Lord uses His people as extensions of His grace. He therefore commands His people to love foreigners. America is a nation built on the immigration of foreigners. Some came to America because they were persecuted. Others came just seeking a better life. America's openness and hospitality to foreigners is one of the primary reasons for our many blessings. A nation's health is dependent upon one thing—pleasing God—and He will provide for those who love and serve those whom He loves and wants to serve. The Lord has a special place in His heart for the poor, widows and orphans, and for foreigner, basically because they are all in need and are lonely. Loneliness was the very first thing that God said was not good (see Genesis 2:18).

If we love and care for those that the Lord wants to care for we become the channels for His provision and blessing. Foreigners in our midst give us a unique opportunity to serve the Lord, but He wants us to give them more than just food and clothes, as stated in Deuteronomy 31:12: Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law (NKJV).

He wants us to love the foreigner so that we can teach them His ways. Just as He told Israel in Deuteronomy chapter 10 to love the foreigner, and then in chapter 31 to teach them His ways, we must love someone before we can teach them. We cannot do His work until we have His love. When we have His love we will be given all that we need to do His work. As these two scriptures indicate, His work will involve providing for their needs, and teaching them His ways. Many foreigners still come to our land each year, often destitute and lonely. Many of them have been driven from their homes and families. The Lord has a special sympathy for such and He will bless those who minister to them. The Lord said that, when He returns He will divide between the sheep and the goats, taking the sheep with Him to eternal life and sending the goats to eternal judgment. The only difference distinguishing the sheep and goats was that the sheep visited Him while He was in prison, gave Him food to eat and water to drink, and clothes for covering and they took Him in when He was a foreigner (see Matthew 25:31-46).

When they asked Him when they did these things He replied that it was when they did it to His brothers. The goats were those who did not visit Him in prison, did not give Him food, water, clothes or take Him in when He was a foreigner, because they did not do this for His brothers. Are we likewise missing Him by neglecting those He sends to us? This is a most serious issue because we will be judged as sheep or goats according to how we receive those He sends to us.

Continuing The Blessing:

Lets look at another significant, but often overlooked, exhortation that the Lord gave to Israel: At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your town. And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do (Deuteronomy 14:28-29).

Here we see that every third year the tithe was to be shared with the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. This was to provide for their needs so that the Lord would continue to bless the work of the land. After Israel had been faithful to set aside the tithe and give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, they were then told to call upon God to look down upon them and their faithfulness in this in order to bless their land and make it flow with milk and honey (see Deuteronomy 26:12-15).

Many have been faithful to preach the tithe, but are they using the tithe properly? Could this be why many who give and receive tithes are still not blessed? To take the tithe every third year and give it to the Levites in the towns (full time ministries), foreigners, widows and orphans means that most congregations would only be able to live on two thirds of their tithe income for their expenses. That would mean that many church buildings would probably have to be a third smaller. Would this be a great tragedy? I have been in many local churches and rarely have I ever seen one more than two thirds full. However, this would probably not be a factor. The congregations that were using the tithes properly would probably be receiving so much grace and anointing that they would be many times larger than we are now. The Lord will bless those who are caring for the ones He wants to care for. To provide that care we don't need buildings nearly as much as we need the anointing. This issue was not just for those under the Old Covenant. When Paul outlined the qualifications for leadership in the church one such requirement was that an elder be one who showed hospitality to foreigners (In Titus 1: 8 this is sometimes translated simply one who shows hospitality but the literal translation is "a friend to aliens"). How many churches today consider this a main characteristic of those appointed to leadership positions? It is obviously important to the Lord, and will help determine the amount of blessing and anointing that will flow through that ministry.

Hospitality And Authority:

True hospitality is one of the most basic demonstrations of genuine love, which is the foundation of all true ministry and spiritual authority. Our homes and families are usually our most prized possessions; to share them is to truly give of ourselves. That is why showing hospitality to foreigners is required of a man in a leadership in the church, which is called to be "a house of prayer for all the nations" (Mark 11:17).

The Lord ordained that His people would be a generous and hospitable people because He, Himself, is generous and hospitable. His people are to reflect His nature and hospitality is a reflection of the Lord's generosity. Hospitality is a means of teaching the world about Him. As well as a representation of the Lord's nature, hospitality is a key element of His strategy for the coming harvest.

The Strategy:

The Lord is now preparing hundreds of thousands of families to open their homes to Him by opening them to His people. This grace of hospitality will open many to the gospel and teachings of the Lord. Great evangelistic and teaching ministries will be born from couples who begin to open their homes in this way. These should begin to prepare spiritually for the harvest like some might prepare in the natural for an impending war. Instead of setting aside food, clothing and other provisions, these should begin setting aside spiritual food, clothing and provisions. Now is the time to begin stockpiling Bibles, Bible Studies, books and basic teaching tapes. Now is the time to learn how to heal the sick, cast out demons, and help lay a solid spiritual foundation in a new believer's life. As stated, in previous revivals a high percentage of new believers were quickly lost again to the world. Many of these would have a genuine conversion but, like newborn infants who are completely dependent on the care of their parents, new believers are dependent on the church to provide for them spiritually until they are mature enough to take care of themselves. When revival has come in the past the church has seldom been prepared for it. This time can be different. The Lord is right now moving on mature, stable men and women of God to prepare to raise these new spiritual infants so they will not be lost again to the world. Now is the time for us to all prepare by sinking our own roots deeper into the word of God and by developing our personal relationships with Him. We must know what we believe in and know how to teach it. In areas to which you feel called, but in which you feel inadequate to now serve, go to your pastors and teachers and ask them for training. What they begin to do for you they will probably also do for others. If you cannot find help in your local congregation, there are now conferences and seminars being offered throughout the body of Christ that address almost every area of ministry. There are also many quality home study courses. If you care enough to invest in the purposes of the Lord, He will invest more in you. We are promised that if we seek, we will find. Some are called to teach groups of new believers once a week; some will be devoting every night to this work. It will be a mammoth task but it is the Lord's work; He will give us the grace and strength to accomplish it. When we take His yoke upon us we actually find rest and refreshment instead of the exhaustion we might expect. There are few efforts that so quicken and awaken the church as the ingathering of new believers. Let us prepare now, before the flood comes. First we must get our own lives in order. We must get rid of the excess baggage in our lives. We must eliminate the compromise and the sin which may have crept in. The Lord said that after one has been taught he "becomes like his teacher." These are the King's own children whom He is entrusting us to teach. Let us not only be careful how we teach them, but how we ourselves live; our lives will be teaching them just as much as the knowledge we impart. If we are absorbing two hours of television and ten minutes of the word each day, the quality of our ministry will reflect it. It is a truth that "you are what you eat;" we do reap what we sow. If we sow that which is true life into our hearts, that is the fruit that we will bear. We certainly would not give a king's children spoiled or poison food; how much more careful should we be with the Lord's own children. We must give them the best, because as we are doing unto them, we are doing unto Him.

The Holy Spirit Challenge:

The Holy Spirit is about to challenge all mature believers with the same challenge that He gave to Peter before His ascension. He will be asking us repeatedly if we love Him. If we say "yes," we must be ready to feed and tend His sheep. I appreciate my wife's affection for me, but it would not mean much if she let my children go hungry, or did not take care of their other needs. We can attend every meeting and sing every song with passion, but we will still be a goat if we do not give Him water when He is thirsty, and food when He is hungry; and if when He comes to us as a foreigner, we do not take Him in.