LOOKING BACK OVER THE PAST TWO HUNDRED YEARS OF OUR CHURCH'S HISTORY FROM 2222

 

As Kim and I enjoyed our weekly coffee-date this morning at Stillwater, she looked out ruminatively across the water at all of the development that has taken place over the past 200 years where the North and South Esks merge to form the Tamar River.

“I wonder if the settlers who came here two hundred years ago” she asked, “could have imagined the silos would have been built over there and then turned into a luxury hotel, or that two bridges would have been built here, or that their tiny village would grow into a large city?“

“What’s more interesting” I responded, “is if anyone today can envision what it will all look like in another two hundred years!“

And my response then got me thinking. Could it be possible to imagine what Launceston will end up looking like in another two hundred years—and, what about our church? What will our church will look like in two hundred years time? As I mused throughout the rest of the day on this question my thoughts went to the future. In 2222, Tasmania’s population on current trends will be 4.5 million. Hobart will have a population of 2 million. Launceston will have a population of 1.34 million. The Tamar River will have population centres on either side of it which will be connected by a series of bridges and tunnels. Tasmania will be connected to the mainland by a “strunnel“ similar to, but much larger than, England’s connection to France through their chunnel. Tasmania’s climate, soil conditions, and abundance of fresh water will lead to it becoming a major international food-bowl. In 200 years, after several periods of devastating natural disasters and military conflicts in various parts of the globe, Tasmania will have opened its heart wide to immigrants from all over the world. This will lead to tens of thousands of people who had also moved here after the collapse of the Islamic world a century earlier. Thousands of Indian families will have also made Tasmania their home. Added to this, there will have been a migration of thousands of Chinese families after the collapse of the formerly oppressive Communist regime. Historians will look back over this period and note that it was a series of spiritual revivals where tens of thousands of people converted to Christianity and churches all across Tasmania were burgeoning. It was the Tasmanian churches of the 23rd century that led many social and cultural reforms where prisons were largely emptied as a result of the change in the moral climate, marriage was once again considered the sacred covenant union of a man and his wife, the rate of violence against women almost unheard of, and wives who became mothers were highly honoured and supported.

Imagine the Friday Pastor’s Desk, written by Legana Christian Church’s 15th Senior Pastor, writing just before the church’s 205th Annual Thanksgiving Sunday…

Your Pastor,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.

An antique ‘photo’ of what used to be entrance to the original auditorium taken near the turn of the 21st century.

As we prepare for our 205th Annual Thanksgiving Weekend, a tradition that dates back two centuries beginning in 2017, we again pause to give thanks for the goodness of God and the sacrifices and faithful service of our forefathers and those who pioneered our church. This is why, for this week’s Pastor’s Desk, I have decided to use the ancient technology of email and the ‘internet’ to send out my Pastor’s Desk as it would have been done by the pastor in 2017. It was just five years ago (2217) that we gathered to open our last building project, our multi-storey auditorium and ministry centre complex. We all remember that Thanksgiving Sunday when 15,000 of us gathered over our five services that Sunday as the Holy Spirit moved powerfully in each service. The Text by our guest speaker was- 

The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies Me;
to one who orders his way rightly
I will show the salvation of God!”
Psalm 50:23

 

A NEW CHAPTER BEGINS

Not only will we be continuing the tradition of setting aside the second weekend in August to give thanks to God for all that He has done for us as a church, as all of my predecessors have done, this weekend will also mark the goodness of God as I retire and we install our next Senior Pastor. And as we look forward to the future we will, as is our tradition, commission our new pastor by reading the charge written by my predecessor 200 years ago. The text for Thanksgiving services this Sunday, as selected by our guest speaker, will be Psalm 95:2-3 – 

Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise!
For the LORD is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
Psalm 95:2-3

Our next pastor will be our church’s 16th pastor in our two hundred and thirty-five year history. We have all had an opportunity to hear and meet him and his family. All two-hundred and eighty-three of our church’s staff have given their endorsement for his appointment, and our elders issued a statement a few weeks ago expressing their commendation of him as well noting that at the age of just 32 he has had extensive international leadership experience. We remember that the last time he shared with us, he talked about how the Lord had clearly called them to come to Tasmania and that he even had a historic connection with our church sharing that his great, great, great, great grandfather also pastored our church two centuries earlier! His grasp of being fluent in several languages will enable him to connect well with our Chinese, and Spanish congregations without the usual need for an interpreter. This was also reflected in his last message with us when he selected the text Revelation 7:9-10 –

¶ After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Revelation 7:9-10

 

PRACTICALITIES

Please be praying for our guests and dignitaries who will be joining with us for Thanksgiving services this Sunday – especially our Prime Minister that she will be touched by the Holy Spirit, our State Governor, and our State Premier (even though both our Governor and Premier grew up in our church and coincidentally were baptised here as young teenagers in the same Baptism Service). Could each of our Service Attendant Teams meet 45 minutes before each of their rostered services on the fifth floor of our Ministry Centre (MC), and could our elders gather for prayer before each service in our Board Room located adjacent to my office on the sixth floor. To avoid congestion in the eastern multi-storey underground car park, please use the western multi-storey car park instead. Several dignitaries will be arriving by HV (hover vehicles) and be using the HV landing pads on the roof of the MC. Remember –

[We are] to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Ephesians 3:9-11

See you Sunday,

Your pastor.
August 9th, 2222

DO NOT DESPISE PROPHECY DESPITE 2020

 DO NOT DESPISE PROPHECY DESPITE 2020

I believe in prophecy and I believe in prophets. But based on what I know from Scripture both are rarer than many would have us believe. I suspect though that there are a lot of Christians who used to share my acceptance of the validity of prophecy and prophets — who no longer do due to the events of 2020.

One of the many reasons I believe in prophecy and prophets is the teaching of Scripture. I will use one particular two-verse passage to bookend this week’s pastor’s desk to make my case.

Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.
First Thessalonians 5:20-21

 

THUS SAYS THE LORD!

Prophecy is predicting or foretelling. It is not like a good guess or a mere hunch. It is what happens when the Spirit of God comes upon a person and they speak on behalf of God. For the most part, the only ones who prophesied in the Old Covenant era were prophets. There were occasions when people experienced the Holy Spirit coming upon them in which people wondered whether these people were now prophets. But each of these instances were temporary and the prophetic utterances that resulted were forth-telling rather than foretelling. That is, rather than predicting the future (foretelling), these temporary prophecies were more like declaring God’s praises. Here are some examples- 

Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it.
Numbers 11:25

And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” And a man of the place answered, “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
First Samuel 10:11-12

It was a grave thing to claim to be a prophet. ‘Grave’ because the consequences of claiming to be a prophet when you were not included shaming and a painful death (Deut. 18:20-22). Little wonder then that several of the Old Testament prophets were hesitant to accept God’s call to be a prophet.

¶ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
¶ Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold,
I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.”
Jeremiah 1:5-6

Anyone who claimed to be a prophet but taught falsehood, was not to be listened to. This required that there was a standard of truth by which the prophet’s words could be evaluated. This is why the written Word of God became increasingly important. Over time, the role of the prophet broadened beyond foretelling to reminding God’s people of His Word, reminding them of the covenant their forefathers had established with God by retelling them their history (the prophet Jeremiah was one of the authors of First and Second Kings for example), and fulfilling the role of an intercessor. In Isaiah 36 we see the prophet Isaiah fulfilling each of these prophetic aspects after King Hezekiah sent messengers to Isaiah pleading for him to intercede on their behalf –

It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’” ¶ When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumour and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”
Isaiah 37:4-7

 

PROPHETS AND PROPHECY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

It has been said that the calling of the prophet is the only Old Covenant ministry to be carried over into the New Covenant. Jesus Christ stated that He would be sending prophets, but just like the prophets of old, they too would be mistreated.

Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town
Matthew 23:34

And the apostle Paul tells us that when Christ ascended He gave of people to the church which included prophets.

He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things. And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers
Ephesians 4:10-11

Just as we briefly saw from our glimpse of what the Old Testament said about the distinction between the ministry of the prophet and those who received a temporary Spirit-enabled ability to prophesy about the glories of God, so too the New Testament makes a distinction between the gift of the prophet to the church, and the gift of [edifying] prophecy to the believer. Through the Book of Acts we see the unfolding role of the New Testament prophet. In the Old Testament, prophets prophesied to the regents of Israel and their national neighbours. Elijah’s prophetic ministry marked the beginning of the Age of the Prophet. John the Baptist was the last Old Covenant prophet and he marks the end of the Age of the Prophet. After Christ ascended and He gave gifts of people to the church as summarised in Ephesians 4:11, we see in Acts three important indicators about how the understanding New Testament prophet developed. 

 

1. The Leadership team at Antioch

In Acts 13 we are introduced to the church at Antioch (which was the Apostle Paul’s home church) which was comprised of prophets and teachers. 

¶ Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
Acts 13:1

In his commentary on this passage John Calvin argues that prophets and teachers in this sense basically amounts to the same thing – people who could teach and interpret God’s Word. But it seems that later in Calvin’s life he came to recognise that they were distinct ministries and functions1. Calvin acknowledges in his commentary on Ephesians 4 and First Corinthians 12 that there is a similar distinction in the New Testament to the ministry of the prophet and the occasional gift of prophecy.

Through Acts we notice that others become identified as prophets (Acts 11:27; 15:32). But there is one in particular I would like to point out.

2. Agabus

Agabus appears in Acts 11 as one of the pioneers of the church at Antioch. His ministry is truly weird. While it might be popular among conservative scholars to assume that only the Old Testament prophets were foretellers, Agabus makes this assumption untenable.

And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius).
Acts 11:28

The next time we meet Agabus is in Acts 21. By this time we see that Agabus had a long track record of being an authentic prophet. The prophecy that he delivers in Acts 21 highlights the difference between the gift of prophecy as one of the charismatic gifts of the Spirit, and the ministry of the prophet. (People whom the Holy Spirit graces with occasional gifts of prophecy for the edifying of the church are not necessarily prophets.)

While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.  And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Acts 21:10-13

Prior to Agabus delivering this prophecy to Paul, the disciples at Tyre, where Paul’s ship had landed, were “through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem” (Acts 21:4). What we see when Agabus prophesied is that Paul listens, accepts, and acknowledges what he has said. We note that Agabus did not direct Paul to do anything. Paul may have chosen to heed the Tyrian and Agabus’ prophetic warnings about going to Jerusalem, but he accepted that what they were prophesying to him agreed with what he knew was God’s will was. This should stand as a warning for those who ever have people “give them a word from God” that is directive (that is, ‘God wants you to…’). Be very careful if someone claims to have a word from God for you telling you to do something that takes you by complete surprise. 

3. The Daughters of Philip

Among some Christians there remains some controversy about the role of women within the church. For those who claim that it is against God’s will for a woman to preach/teach/prophesy in a church, Philip’s four daughters present a problem.

On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. He had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied.
Acts 21:8-9

There can be little doubt that women prophesied in the early church (1Cor. 11:5). This should not be surprising either because even in the Old Testament times God called women to be prophets – Miriam (Ex. 15:20), Deborah (Judges 4:4), Huldah (2Kings 22:14), Isaiah’s wife (Isa. 8:3), and Anna (Luke 2:36).

 

DISCERNMENT AND PROPHECY

Twenty-twenty will be a memorable year for most us but sadly it will probably be recorded by church historians as the year of discredited prophets and prophecy. I’m not aware any prophet who foretold of the global pandemic, and most of the high-profile American ‘prophets’ unanimously prophesied the President Donald Trump would be re-elected.

I dared to respond to one of these ‘prophets’ with a Youtube video challenging his prophecy that Bill Gates was going to infuse a nano-chip into a coronavirus vaccine which would lead to him being revealed as the prophesied Antichrist. I’ve had around 700 people call me a ‘false prophet’ and condemn me to hell for daring to challenge this ‘prophet’. But this example of modern prophecy serves to illustrate the principle found in our bookend biblical passage. 

Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.
First Thessalonians 5:20-21

Based on this text of Scripture, whenever someone prophesies something, we test what they say. This testing should include: 

• Does it correspond to the teaching of Scripture?
• Is it conditional? (Most Biblical prophecies were unconditional.)
• Does it have a time-frame? That is, does it declare that it will be fulfilled by a certain date? This makes it easy to test.
• Does the person prophesying have a credible prophetic track-record?

Last Sunday (January 17th 2021), someone in our church received a word from the Lord. They wrote it down and gave it to me through the week. This is what it says-

“God is calling His church—individual people to seek Him deeper for a more personal relationship with Him. This will cause people to grow—and lead to church numbers (attendance) to grow. So the church needs to prepare for growth. Be aware that in the past, such calling for knowing God deeper is often associated with upheaval.”

What do we do with a prophecy like this? We should do as First Thessalonians 5:20-21 teaches us. We should test it. Is it contrary to Scripture? No. Is it conditional? Perhaps. But it is an exhortation to draw near to God. Does it have a time-frame deadline? No. Does it come from a credible source? Yes. And it is my pastoral hope that if someone gives you a prophecy, or tells you of a prophecy that will supposedly effect you, you too will apply these tests to their prophecy. Even though recent high profile ‘prophetic’ ministries have brought enormous discredit to the genuinely God ordained prophetic, we should not despise prophecy, but we should test all claims and hold onto that which good.

¶ “For the Lord GOD does nothing
without revealing His secret
to His servants the prophets.
Amos 3:7

 

Footnotes:

1. Van Alten, H.H. 2017. ‘John Calvin on the gifts of the Holy Spirit in his commentary on Acts’, Koers – Bulletin for Christian Scholarship 82(2), Available at https://doi.org/10.19108/ KOERS.82.2.2350

Your pastor,

Andrew