Preparing our Hearts: by Tim Kernan

2 Corinthians 10: 3-5

3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Its been an amazing 220 some days of missionary work here in London. Lianne and I are so grateful to be surrounded by so many great disciples and fellow missionaries. We are living with a modest sense of accomplishment but also in a heightened sense of the work and the battle to come. God added 5 disciples to our number this month but we are not overly self confident of our abilities. God has kept us humble and focused on Him. As we enjoy the comfort of being part of a fellowship of fully committed disciples God does not want us to become comfortable and fail to advance forcefully in His mission for us. God always offers chances to afflicted people and many take His offer. The problem that we see over and over again in the Scriptures (and life) is that the formerly afflicted people then become lazy and stiff necked; refusing to fully obey God to the end. For God is seems this second test, obedience from a state of happiness is more important than the first, obedience from from a state of affliction.

As a church we are probably entering the second phase of our testing. As such we struggle in prayer everyday before God to rile up in ourselves the sold out desire to obey God all the way through to the end. Its Gods plan to give Christians, His children, backbone and character. We are glad to have a God who is our Father and we will not shirk our duties or His discipline.

In the passage above we see that God gives us the power to demolish the strongholds and arguments that hold down and oppress millions of people. How can we remain silent when so many people are cruelly forced into a death march to hell by Satan’s lies? When it comes to France and Britain the old saying applies: “We must hang together or we will hang separately”. Sadly on the religious front there are far more mosques with ties to France from Britain than churches. When I think of how important France and Britain are to one another I think of Winston Churchills eerily applicable speech after the battle of Dunkerque.

“…(This) is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength. Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”

The New World is here in London and soon, with Gods will, we will be in France. I have to admit that as a true son of the new world, a Canadian missionary trained in America, I am in a lot of ways I am a reluctant warrior. I yearn to be back home in these some of the happiest days of my life. I’m happy in my marriage, happy in my friendships, happy with my God, happy to have a son on the way. However in this time of happiness the Spirt tells me to “…Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.” James 4: 9 We must press forward with power towards our goal of making disciples of all nations.

We know that as we do this we will have opposition:

1 Corinthians 4: 18-20

18Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. 19But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. 20For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

On one hand we have so enjoyed all the calls and emails from our brothers and sisters in France who are eager for us to set up a more official presence there. On the other hand there are already former disciples, such as one young man who rules the former ICOC church in Paris with intimidation and slander, who are working hard to discourage us from coming. I have one thing to say to that: If it is the Lords will that we come then there is nothing you can do.

So far God has opened doors for us to meet and encourage a number of french disciples. Excitingly we now have a french missionary here in London who is training along with a number of others to move to France when God permits. I designed the Paris church logo above and dedicate it to them and God. They will be traveling back and forth to France until we are ready to conduct an official planting. We are all working very hard to increase our trips to Paris and build the lines of friendship that will make such an incredible impact in the months and years to come.

In a lot of ways building a house church in Paris will be easier than building in some parts of London since there is a bullet train that goes from Kings Cross Station where we have our services right to Paris in under two hours.

We in London have concertedly begun to petition God to open more and more doors so that we may soon have a sister church in Paris.

Tim Kernan

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