10 Weeks of Fire: By Tim Kernan

Why do we have meetings of the Body by Tim Kernan on the 3rd March 2009
[audio:WhyWeDoWhatWeDo/TK_Meetings_2009-03-01.mp3]

Luke 12:47-53
47″That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
49″I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! 51Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Wow, this is not baby Jesus in the manger… This is a grown up hard-line Jesus of the bible! One of the reasons that Christians were so heavily persecuted in the first century was because they were accused of two “vile crimes”: Firstly, they were considered intolerant and atheistic because, while they called everyone to worship their God, they refused to worship the gods of others. Its inaccurate to say that they were persecuted for worshipping Jesus, because in fact, the polytheistic society around them was very willing to worship one more god. The second “crime” was that they were considered to be “family wreckers”. As the passage above describes, families were torn apart by the Christian beliefs of only one or two members. These Christians considered their spiritual family to be more important than their physical family! As Jesus said: “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Matthew 12: 48-50.

This week we are learning about the biblical principle of meetings of the body. Society has indeed changed massively, but on the other hand, certain elements have remained the same. Since the industrial revolution, we have all had to sell our time to companies instead of selling products or services to merchants and nobles. As a result, the modern church has more “set meetings” than you would find in the New Testament because historically we, in the modern era, work many more hours than we would have in the first century.

Inevitably, as soon as we call people to respect Christianity as the truth and to put their Christian family above their physical family, we end up being accused of the same “crimes” as the disciples were in the first century. Its a sad reality that the more paganized and godless society becomes the more things are going to look like the first century. We have no time to lose and we have to take advantage of every opportunity. The next 10 weeks are going to be incredible. We have planned an amazing 10 week schedule that is going to build the faith of the disciples in an incredible way.

In the next six weeks, we are going to be focused in a very serious way on building up all of the convictions of the new disciples who have recently been added to God’s family. We are very excited about this incredible opportunity to strengthen the disciples!

Seven weeks from now, fourteen members of the London Church are headed to Kiev for the annual “Kiev Sobranie” (Prounced: Sobraniyeah. Means “Meeting”). The theme this year is “Rise Up!” We are so looking forward to this awesome conference with our Kiev brothers and sisters and we know that although we are coming to give, we will recieve much more. We are also honoured that DJ & Kacie Comisford will be coming from NY as the keynote speakers!

Eight weeks from now, Kip & Elena McKean of Los Angeles will be coming to London! Elena has graciously agreed to preach at this year’s women’s day and Kip will be preaching on Sunday to the church! Please call: 07908461477 for location and details. This will be one of the highlights of our whole year and we pray you will be able to join us for it.

Nine weeks from now, the leaders of the London Church will be headed out of town for our annual leaders retreat. It will be a great chance for us to put our heads together to plan the rest of the year and take stock spiritually as we blaze into the second half of our year. We will then join up with the rest of the church for the remainder of the weekend for sunday service and an awesome time of fellowship!

Finally, 10 weeks from now, I will be headed to Kenya, Tanzania and our two churches in DRC Congo to encourage our awesome churches there. We are so grateful for the love and example of the our African brothers and sisters. We love you guys so much and I can’t wait to get off the plane and see your beautiful faces. The fruit you are bearing, the leaders you are raising up and the faithful teams you are sending out make our hearts burn with zeal.

The next 10 weeks are only possible because of how much the church has grown spiritually and in terms of capability. The four baptisms in the last two months (pray for a 5th this sunday!) and all the incredible ways God is blessing you is because of your faith. Lets hit the next 10 weeks like a ton of bricks!

Love,

Tim