SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #102 ---- 12/27/99
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
As We fight The Good Fight
SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #102 ---- 12/27/99
TITLE: "Apostolic Passion"
My Dear Friend:
How I thank God for you. This Christmas season I have been reminded of
just how unbelievably blessed I am. I can't begin to tell you all the
ways in which I have been made so incredibly rich ---- but you are one of
those ways.
Now, if you and I have never met, you may think I'm just saying that to
feel good, or to make you feel good. However, that's not the case. I
really do thank Him for you, and I really do feel blessed to have this
opportunity to write to you each week.
Please don't ask me to explain that, because I can't. All I know is all
I know ---- and I know God has you in my heart, and I'm so glad.
For several months I have anticipated what I might want to share with you
at the end of this year and the beginning of another. There has been
within me a burning desire to write something profound ---- something
that would minister healing and life to you in a very special way ----
something that would motivate you into the greatest year thus far of your
ministry.
Then, yesterday, as I was looking through my "working" file of
"Shoulders" letters, I ran across the following, and knew in an instant
that, contrary to my own agenda and my own desires, this was what I
needed to share with you today.
It came to me from a good friend, Tom, in St. Paul, MN. back in early
November of 1999. I scanned it at the time, but took occasion to read it
more closely a few days after Thanksgiving, as I was preparing to do
some taping on a promotional video for our missionary teams to use in
building prayer and financial support for their efforts.
When I got done, all I could think of was ---- "Whoa! . . . Wow! . . .
Ouch!" And then I thought ---- "I've gotta share this with my "Shoulder
To Shoulder" readers!"
Thanks, Tom, for sending this! Thank you, Floyd McClung, for sharing
your insight. Thank You, Father, for stirring Floyd's heart to write it,
and Tom's heart to send it.
While I have significantly re-formatted the article and have added some
headings for readability, I have not "tinkered" with it otherwise. It's
one of the most profound statements on ministry I have ever read. Few
articles have so touched me as this one. I have been convicted, ripped,
skewered, grilled, and shamed at my own lack of apostolic passion.
And yet, I have never been more challenged, motivated, and driven to
pursue the heart of God for all I am worth in the coming year. I wish I
could have written these words, and could take credit for inspiring you
today, but God, in His wisdom (and apparent sense of humor, too), has
chosen to remind me in a very humbling way ----(again!) ---- that it's
all about Him and not about me, so it doesn't matter who wrote it.
As we come to the end of 1999 and face 2000, all I really know is that I
want more Apostolic Passion! Much more!
Seldom can I say that I have no doubt that this article, written I don't
know how long ago, is just for you today, but I believe it is for every
recipient. When you get done, I hope your life is forever changed.
Read on ---- and be blessed! (Then note the prayer requests at the end
of my letter.)
< < < < < < <
APOSTOLIC PASSION FOR A NEW DAY:
Apostolic Passion - Praying For and Reaching Nations by Floyd McClung
What is Apostolic Passion?
The term "passion" is used to describe everything from romance to hunger
pangs. I don't know what it means to you, but for me passion means
whatever a person is willing to suffer for. In fact, that's the root
meaning of the word. It comes from the Latin "paserre", to suffer. It
is what you hunger for so intensely that you will sacrifice anything to
have it.
The word "apostle" means a sent one, a messenger.
"Apostolic Passion," therefore, is a deliberate, intentional choice to
live for the worship of Jesus in the nations. It has to do with being
committed to the point of death to spreading His glory. It's the quality
of those who are on fire for Jesus, who dream of the whole earth being
covered with the Glory of the Lord.
WHEN IT IS DEAD:
I know when apostolic passion has died in my heart.
It happens when I don't spend my quiet time dreaming of the time when
Jesus will be worshipped in languages that aren't yet heard in heaven.
I know it's missing from my life when I sing about heaven, but live as if
earth is my home.
Apostolic passion is dead in my heart when I dream more about sports,
toys, places to go and people to see, than I do about the nations
worshiping Jesus.
I have lost it, too, when I make decisions based on the danger involved,
not the glory God will get. Those who have apostolic passion are
planning to go, but willing to stay.
WHEN IT IS ALIVE:
You know you have it when you are deeply disappointed that God has not
called you to leave your home and get out among those who have never
heard His name.
If you will not suffer and sacrifice for something, you are not
passionate about it. If you say you will do anything for Jesus, but you
don't suffer for Him then you aren't really passionate about Him and His
purposes on earth.
DISCERNING IF YOU HAVE IT:
If you don't have it, how do you go about getting this thing called
apostolic passion?
Is it like ordering pizza at the door in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed?
Is there an 800 number to call? Or better yet, just send us your special
gift of $15 or more, and we'll rush you some passion, express delivery,
overnight mail.
If you're like me, you need help figuring out how to grow this thing
called passion.
I am motivated by reading how the apostle Paul got it.
He chose it.
Paul says in Romans 15 that it is his ambition, his passion, if you will,
to make Christ known. It began for him with a revelation of Jesus that
he nurtured all his adult life.
Paul not only encountered Christ on the road to Damascus, he kept on
meeting Jesus every day. This revelation of Jesus, and his study of
God's purposes, gave birth to Paul's apostolic passion. Knowing Jesus
and making Him known consumed the rest of Paul's life. He "gloried in
Christ Jesus in his service to God" (Rom 15:17).
By comparison, everything else was dung, garbage, stinking refuse. Paul's
ambition was born from his understanding that God longed for His Son to
be glorified in the nations. It was focused so that the "Gentiles might
become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit" (Rom
15:16).
Human enthusiasm cannot sustain apostolic passion. When God invests His
own passion in you he desire to see His name glorified among all people
you must build and develop what God has given you.
HOW TO GAIN IT:
Four things will help:
1. Apostolic Abandonment : Too many people want the fruit of Paul's
ministry without paying the price that Paul paid. He died. He died to
everything. He died daily. He was crucified with Christ.
This strong-willed, opinionated man knew that he must die to self. He
knew that in his flesh, he couldn't generate the revelation of Jesus; he
couldn't sustain the heart of Christ. So he died. He abandoned his
life. He abandoned himself.
We live in a world of competing passions. If we do not die to self and
fill our lives with the consuming passion of the worship of God in the
nations, we will end up with other passions. It's possible to deceive
ourselves into thinking we have Biblical passions when, in reality, all
we have done is to baptize the values of our culture and give them
Christian names.
We will have chosen apostolic passion only when our hearts are filled
with God's desire for His Son to be worshipped in the nations.
May I encourage you, dear friend, to give up your life? I challenge you
to pray this prayer: "Lord, be ruthless with me in revealing my selfish
ambition and my lack of willingness to die to myself. "
I guarantee that He will answer your prayer ---- and quickly.
2. Apostolic Focus: The greatest enemy of the ambition to see Jesus
worshipped in the nations is lack of focus. You can run around expending
energy on all sorts of good ministries, and not get one step closer to
the nations.
I don't have anything against all the projects and ministries out there.
God's people do them, and I don't question their obedience to God. But
the Church has an apostolic calling, an apostolic mission. God has
called us to the nations.
We must focus, or we won't obey.
Focus on what?
I believe God wants a people for Himself.
Activity without a desire that God have a people for Himself is just
activity not missions. You can have evangelism without missions.
Short-term ministries are great, as long as they focus on raising up
workers to plant churches.
You might say, "I'm not called to plant churches." Yes, you are! It's
always the will of God to have a people who worship His Son in the
nations. You'll never have to worry about making God mad if you try to
plant a church.
It seems crazy to me that people are under the delusion they need a
special calling to save souls, to disciple them, and to get them together
to love Jesus.
Whatever ministry you are with, you must understand one thing: church
planting is not for us, it's for God. We do it so God will have a people
to worship Him!
3. Apostolic Praying: A young man in Bible school offered to help
David Wilkerson years ago when he was ministering on the streets of New
York City. Wilkerson asked him how much time he spent in prayer.
The young student estimated about 20 minutes a day.
Wilkerson told him, "Go back, young man. Go back for a month and pray
two hours a day, every day for 30 days. When you've done that, come
back. Come back, and I might consider turning you loose on the streets
where there is murder, rape, violence and danger. If I sent you out now
on 20 minutes a day, I'd be sending a soldier into battle without any
weapons, and you would get killed."
You can get into heaven, my friend, without a lot of prayer. You can
have a one-minute quiet time every day and God will still love you. But
you won't hear a "well done, good and faithful servant" on one-minute
conversations with God.
And you certainly can't make it on that kind of prayer life in the hard
places where Jesus is not known or worshipped. Here's a challenge for
you: Read everything Paul says about prayer, then ask yourself, "Am I
willing to pray like that?" Paul said that he prayed "night and day with
tears, without ceasing, with thankfulness in the Spirit, constantly,
boldly, for godly sorrow against the evil one."
4. Apostolic Decision-Making: If you live without a vision of the
glory of God filling the whole earth, you are in danger of serving your
own dreams of greatness, as you wait to do "the next thing" God tells
you.
There are too many over-fed, under-motivated Christians hiding behind the
excuse that God has not spoken to them. They are waiting to hear voices
or see dreams all the while living to make money, to provide for their
future, to dress well and have fun.
The Apostle Paul was guided by his passions. Acts 20 and 21 tell of his
determination to go to Jerusalem despite his own personal anticipation of
suffering, the warnings of true prophets, and the intense disapproval of
his friends.
Why would Paul go against his own intuition let alone the urgings of
prophets and weeping entreaties of close friends? He had a revelation of
greater priority, of greater motivation: ---- the glory of God.
Apostolic decision-making starts with a passion for God's glory in the
nations, then asks: "Where shall I serve you?"
Most people do the opposite.
They ask the where-and-when questions without a revelation of His glory
in the nations. Is it any wonder they never hear God say "go!"? They
have not cultivated a passion for the passions of God.
All kinds of lesser desires can be holding them captive. They might
never realize it.
NOT IT'S YOUR TURN:
Present your gifts, vocations and talents to the Lord. Press into God.
Stay there until you long to go out in His name. Remain there and
nurture the longing to see the earth bathed with His praise. Only then
will you be able to trust your heart if you hear God say, "stay." Only
those who long to broadcast His glory to the nations have the right to
stay.
If you have apostolic passion, you are one of the most dangerous people
on the planet. The world no longer rules your heart. You are no longer
seduced by getting and gaining, but devoted to spreading and proclaiming
the glory of God in the nations.
You live as a pilgrim, unattached to the cares of this world. You are
not afraid of loss. You even dare to believe you may be given the
privilege of dying to spread His fame on the earth.
The Father's passions have become your passions. You find your
satisfaction and significance in Him. You believe He is with you always,
to the end of life itself. You are sold out to God, and you live for the
Lamb. Satan fears you, and the angels applaud you.
Your greatest dream is that His name will be praised in languages never
before heard in heaven. Your reward is the look of pure delight you
anticipate seeing in His eyes when you lay at His feet and the just
reward of His suffering: the worship of the redeemed.
You have apostolic passion!
(Floyd McClung is the founder and Director of All Nations Institute in
Trinidad, Colorado. For years he served as International Director of
Youth With A Mission. He began his ministry in Afghanistan.)
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IN CONCLUSION:
Well! What do you think, my friend?
I've come to the conclusion that if a minister doesn't have the world in
his view, he doesn't have the full truth of the Gospel in his heart.
And the only way he can possibly have the world in his view, is if he's
looking through the eyes of God. And that never happens until he's had a
touch from God. Take another look at Isaiah 6:1-13 again. It's still
the standard for how God calls and sends people.
Next time I write it will be a new year ---- a new week ---- a new day.
May it contain above and beyond all you could ever dream or imagine.
In His Matchless Grace and Mercy,
Bob Tolliver ---- (Rom 1:11-12)
Copyright December, 1999. All rights reserved.
SPECIAL URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS:
#1. PRAISE THE LORD AND PRAY FOR BELIEVERS IN BOSNIA AND KOSOVO:
I just received word from missionaries Lou and Jan Felo that a brand new
church was recently begun in the
city of Gorazde, Bosnia. Here is part of their report.
"We are delighted to report that there are now seven believers along with
our two full time staff members meeting together in the city of Gorazde.
The little fellowship is called 'Evangelical Christian Fellowship'. To
think that just a few months ago there were no believers in this totally
Muslim polarized section of Bosnia. As far as we know, this is
the first Christian group ever to be meeting in this region of Bosnia."
The Felo's also do extensive work in Kosovo, such as the coming project
noted below:
"Please keep the 'May 2000 Kosovo Project' in your prayers. Some 600,000
people are spending winter under tents. We are looking to the Lord for 40
individuals to join us in our May project to reconstruct roofs of
destroyed houses, drill new water wells, distribute clothing and food
supplies and begin kid clubs. There is also a medical team being
organized for this project.".
If you are interested in joining the 'May 2000 project into Kosovo',
please contact Lou and Jan at <[email protected]> for more details.
You might just want to drop them a note of encouragement, letting them
know of your prayers.
#2. PRAY FOR CROATIA:
Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, 77, died after battling cancer,
Croatian media reported on Dec. 11. He was declared incapable of
governing last month, and his powers turned over to the speaker of
parliament.
Tudjman led Croatia to independence, but governed the country with a
heavy hand and virulent nationalism. He backed ethnic Croatian
extremists in neighboring Bosnia-Hercegovina and was long accused of
seeking to carve up Bosnia between Croatia and Serbia. Western leaders
and human-rights activists considered Tudjman a major stumbling block to
democracy and stabilization in the region.
Because of our extensive love for and ministry in the Balkans, we see
this event as extremely significant to the future of the Balkans,
particularly as a successor is selected. Please pray for the citizens of
Croatia, and especially for the believers who are there, that God will
use them to help raise up a leader who is committed to peace, to
equality, and to religious freedom.
#3. PRAY FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE BALKANS:
Not only do I ask you to pray specifically about the political situation
in Croatia, but for all the people in the Balkan countries, especially
during the winter season.
"Snow blanketed Bosnia on Friday, closing schools in the Bosnian
capital, where 3 feet of snow fell -- the most in Sarajevo in 50 years,"
Associated Press reported. "Airports in Sarajevo and in the Bosnian
towns of Mostar, Banja Luka, Gorazda, and Tuzla were closed and many
roads were impassable." Gorazda was without water and electricity for
three days.
We have dear friends in Banja Luka, Sarajevo, Mostar, and Tuzla, and in
numerous locations in Serbia, Croatia and Kosovo. My mind goes back to
November one year ago when we stood with SFOR troops in the main hotel at
the top of the mountain where the 1984 Winter Olympic Games were held and
were told that the 600 people, mostly abandoned Serbians, had only enough
fuel for one more month.
I can tell you that if three feet of snow fell in Sarajevo, it was
probably at least double that amount on top of the mountain. The winters
there are ravaging under normal circumstances. When you have no home, no
blankets, no food, no clothing, and no heat, they can be fatal.
As you sit around your warm fire in your snug home, pray for these
people.
We would love to hear from you ---- prayer requests, insights, etc. Feel
free to drop us a note at <[email protected]>.
If this letter has blessed you and you know of someone else who needs to
be encouraged, feel free to forward it in its entirety to all such people
you know.
If you would like a list of past issues which you could receive upon
request, just let us know. Write <[email protected]>.
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Hang in there! I'm with you!
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