SHOULDERS #63 ---- 3/29/99
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
As We fight The Good Fight
SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #63 ---- 3/29/99
TITLE: "Have You A Word From God? (part 7) ---- Hab 2:3 ---- Fulfillment
of A Vision Delayed"
Dear Fellow Warrior:
I greet you in the majestic name of our Mighty Warrior, and trust that
you are rejoicing in the total provision He brings with Him.
KOSOVO:
Your heart is certainly broken, as is ours, over what is again happening
in the former Yugoslavia. We have friends and acquaintances throughout
the area. We praise the Lord that the fighting is generally contained in
Serbia and Kosovo, with minimal incidents in Montenegro and Macedonia,
along with the Yugoslav fighters being shot down over the Srpska portion
of Bosnia (Serb Republic under Serb control).
While we have had no words whatsoever concerning the brother whose letter
we sent to you a few days ago, we have just received a letter a few hours
ago from Roy Boudoin, a Southern Baptist missionary, in behalf of all the
IMB missionaries who were in Serbia and in the Serb Republic. Because a
number of recipients of my letter are Southern Baptists, I've included
their names ----
Roy and Anita Boudoin (Republic)
Randy and Joan Bell and their four children (Serbia)
Ben and Merridith Hannah and their two children.(Serbia)
James and Jennifer Early and their two children. (Republic)
Peter and Shannon Wolf and their son. (Republic)
Roy and Anita (Republic)
Shawn Mooneyham (Republic)
Donna Robinson (Republic)
Aaron Byrd (Republic)
Here is a part of Roy's letter, along with his e-mail address. If you
feel prompted, please drop them all a note (you can reach them all
through Roy's address at the moment) and let them know of your prayer
support. Here's what Roy had to say:
"Dear Friends,
It is with much regret that we write this letter. We are no longer
in our ministry area (Banja Luka). Because of the tension there we had
to leave the area. We do not know at this time which direction we will
go. We are in a hotel one hour outside of Zagreb, Croatia. In the next
few days we will discuss this with our supervisors and then we will know
where we will go. Times like these call for serious prayer. Please
pray for the young Christians we left behind, Nikola, Sasha, Branko, and
Drugitsa. Pray also for all the contacts we made, especially Svetozor
and Milenko that God would draw them to Himself. Pray also for wise
decisions to be made concerning the place of ministry for the
missionaries that had to leave Serbia and Republic of Serbia."
UNDERSTANDING RHEMA'S:
While I certainly do not claim to be an authority on the subjects of
"Logos" and "Rhema" and the contrasts between the two, I have absolutely
no doubt that there is a clear difference, and it is important to our
faith and confidence to at least recognize the difference.
As I mentioned in one of the earliest letters in this series, the word
"Logos" is used scores of times in the New Testament whereas "Rheas" is
used primarily in only fifteen passages ---- each one illustrating a
particular principle through its respective application.
Last week-end Dad and I had a chance to talk a little about this.
Frankly, I treasure the opportunity to talk with a pastor who has over 65
years of ministry behind him (he's still preaching at age 84), and has
read the Bible through from cover to cover more than 100 times. I
suspect such a man has something to say that is worth listening to.
So, when my father speaks, his son still listens.
We were discussing the number of genuine "Rhema's" a person might
actually receive in a lifetime, and the regularity with which they might
come.
I had indicated that I could remember perhaps a total of twelve to
fifteen such occasions and that they seemed to relate to major
circumstances in my life and usually resulted in some measure of a
turning point. He agreed.
He went on to say that in his experience there might be several such
occasions in a year, and then it might be ten, fifteen, or more years
before another experience with such revelation would come.
So ---- for those who have inquired about patterns, the answer is clear:
1. Don't try to anticipate or create such moments.
2. When you are facing the need to hear from God, don't hesitate to ask
Him.
3. If He doesn't happen to give you an answer, it may be that the timing
isn't right, or it may be because He wants you to go on raw faith alone
with no "fleece" to rely on. The writer of Hebrews seems to make a
distinction between the faith of those who saw such indicators and those
who just "gutted it out" without such divine evidentiary intervention.
4. Don't worry about how long it is between such moments in your life.
God will speak through His "Logos" Word clearly and distinctly in those
interim times when the "Rhema" seems to have become obsolete by its
absence.
FOLLOW-UP RHEMAS:
Last week I shared the experience I had in Michigan when a brother had a
clear word from God concerning our ministry, and how God used Ezekiel 34
to confirm that.
Of the five thing the brother shared, I discussed only God's purpose that
we would have a ministry to shepherds. That continues to be a reality,
even as recently as this past week ---- even between morning services
yesterday.
The last thing the brother indicated was that our "ministry would have
international application" ---- meaning that we would be doing things
that would be outside our own country.
Frankly, I didn't think much about it for a number of years ---- until
our annual Board Meeting for Life Unlimited Ministries in 1992. We were
already in the decision making process to terminate our pastoral ministry
and return again to full-time itinerant evangelistic work by the time our
meeting was held. Nobody at church knew that at the time.
When we convened our gathering in the Wisconsin north woods that October,
it was a time long anticipated. Our Board meetings were more like home
comings and revivals all rolled into one event. We spent more time
worshiping, praying, and studying the Word than we did reporting and
planning.
Prior to that meeting an interesting trend had begun to develop,
unnoticed for the most part, both to Kenny and Kathleen King (our
coordinators for LUM Northwest out of Seattle) and for Jo Ann and me.
But, when we gathered and began to compare notes, we were stunned to
discover that we had standing invitations to minister in ten different
countries around the world.
Now, Jo Ann and I had already done some international work in Trinidad,
Venezuela, and New Zealand, but neither of us had any particular interest
in all that travel, especially when it involved flying over extremely
wide and deep bodies of water such as the Pacific and the Atlantic
Oceans.
So, at first I wasn't real excited about the idea. I mean, I was
certainly willing, but it wasn't going to be something I particularly
attempted to cultivate.
But, the more I thought about it, the more God began to change my heart.
I began to remember long-forgotten incidents in my life. I remembered
the intrigue I felt as a boy when I was around missionaries who stayed in
our homes when they came to speak in the church my father pastored.
Then, I remembered the occasion in seminary chapel when Jo Ann and I
yielded ourselves and our children to God for Him to use, in any way, at
any time, in any place, He chose ---- and I remembered how we sensed that
He might be calling us to be missionaries.
We went through the process of talking to missionaries such as Hoke Smith
from Bogota, Colombia, and to Chuck and Erica Morris from Malaysia and
North Borneo. Sensing the need to continue the process, we initiated
applications and interviews with staff from the foreign missions division
of our denomination.
Then, all of a sudden ---- God stopped the process dead it its tracks.
It was as if God simply said, "O.K. ---- just checking. Stay home."
And, from that day in 1963 until that Michigan experience in 1983, I
never gave it another thought. ---- Until October, 1992.
I also remembered introducing our four little girls to one of America's
great missionaries to China, Miss Bertha Smith, who had faithfully served
during the famed Shantung Revival up until Communism drove her out in
1948. As soon as she saw them she said, "My, my! How precious! May
they all be foreign missionaries!" (Three of them have since served in
foreign missions.)
Then, I remembered February, 1969, when God opened the door for me to
minister through music in Trinidad, only to put me to preaching for the
very first time because there was a shortage of preachers, and then
rubbed it in by drawing 76 people to Himself in salvation through my
bumbling and stammering efforts. My first thought: "Wow! I never had
anything like this happen singing solos!" A brief stop over in Caracas,
Venezuela further confirmed what God was about to do. Five months later
I was pastoring my very first church in Mountain Grove, Missouri.
And, of course, I could not forget the seven weeks of ministry God
provided us in five New Zealand church in 1990.
And, finally, for the very first time since it happened, I remembered the
Michigan brother's comments ---- our "ministry would have international
application".
CONFIRMATION:
So ---- it was time again. I needed to hear God again, with freshness
and clarity. This was another decision I dared not make without clear
affirmation that it was the right thing. I had already made more than my
share of erroneous decisions.
A few days later, the Board Members having all returned to their homes in
Iowa Washington, Missouri, and Wisconsin ---- and all the laughter,
singing, and fellowship but distant memories, I found myself again in my
favorite place ---- sitting on the front porch of our log home, gazing
into the woods watching the squirrels and the birds rejoice in the midst
of the brilliant colors of a Wisconsin Autumn.
But that thought kept sneaking in ---- "international ministry? Please,
no. Are You sure?"
So, there I was ---- praying that prayer again ---- "Lord, I need to hear
from You." Seems like I do that a lot.
I was taught early on that the very best way to hear from God is not from
other people, 'though he can do that, but from His Word. After all, He
said it there, so that should be one of the first and best places to
look.
And, as so often happens, God seems to hit me with something from the Old
Testament. Maybe it's because the struggles of many Old Testament
characters are so blatantly clear, and they mirror so many of my own
characteristics.
As I opened my Bible, I had an urge to turn to a book with only 56 verses
in three short chapters ---- Habakkuk. I had been reading and preaching
about revival, and remembered the second verse of chapter three ----
"Lord, I have heard the report about Thee, and I fear. O Lord, revive
Thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years make it
known; in wrath remember mercy."
Well, one thing was certain ---- I needed revival. No, ---- actually I
need a revival of His work in the midst of the years of my ministry. It
wasn't that I felt need for personal reviving as much as I felt something
was lacking in His Own activity in my setting.
Then, the strangest thing happened. I found my eyes being drawn to the
beginning verses of the previous chapter.
"I will stand on my guard post, and station myself on the rampart; and I
will keep watch to see what He will speak to me . . ."
I thought ---- "Right on! That's me. Lord, I will stand at my post
faithfully, I will climb on the tops of the parapets, and I will search
the horizons until I see what You want me to see and hear what You want
me to hear."
My eyes picked up the last part of the verse ---- " . . . And (AND) how I
may reply . . ."
I already had a good idea ---- I would say "Yes, Lord!"
But that wasn't the end of the verse yet ---- " . . . when I am
Reproved."
"Reproved! For what, Lord? Reproved? You gotta be kidding!"
"Then the Lord answered me and said, 'Record the vision and inscribe it
on tablets, that the one who reads it may run.
"For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the
goal, and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will
certainly come, it will not delay." (Habakkuk 2:1-3).
Then I knew ---- the handwriting was not on the Wall, but it was in The
Book, ---- and now forever in my heart. There was no doubt in my mind
---- the "international application" was about to begin.
VALIDATION:
Jo Ann and I talked often about the ramifications of that "Rhema" to us.
We were a bundle of mixed emotions ---- excitement, tentativeness, fear,
joy, courage, and more.
However, we told no one.
A few days later a couple in the church where I pastored came to our
home. She was carrying a small package ---- a gift of appreciation.
I opened it. It was a beautiful calligraphy wall hanging. It read . . .
"The vision is for the appointed time.
"It hastens toward the goal, and it will not fail.
"Though it tarries, wait for it;
"For it will certainly come, it will not delay"
(Habakkuk 2:3)
To them I said, "thank you".
To God I said, "Lord ---- You're too much!"
To Jo Ann ---- I smiled.
SINCE THEN:
A year later (1993) God directed me to terminate my pastoral role. While
most of our furniture remained at our Ministry Center in Wisconsin, we
moved ourselves to the Kansas City area, and we began an ever increasing
schedule of itinerant ministry.
The following January I assumed the role of interim pastor to a church
that had just gone through a difficult time while losing a pastor. They
were a people in search of hope and in need of healing. I shared that
passage with them. God used it to raise them up to begin the preparation
process of receiving a new shepherd.
That same month Jo Ann and I attended a conference in Texas. There were
about 3,000 of us ---- but one night, we felt as if we were the only ones
there, as God opened our eyes to two needs.
We first learned of a Bible college in Kiev, Ukraine, meeting in the
former Cultural Center where Communist propaganda had once been espoused
and now young men and women from eight former Communist countries were
being trained to preach the Gospel to millions in the former Soviet
Union.
My heart was captured by the thought ---- to be able to invest my life in
the lives of those kids!
Then we heard pastor Stevo Dereta from Rijeka, Croatia describe the
horrors, suffering, and devastation that was taking place to the people
of Bosnia and Croatia. We heard him describe how that region of Croatia
had been overwhelmed by nearly one million Bosnians, Croats, and Serbs
fleeing the carnage of war.
We wept as he described how women had been raped time and again. We sat
in unbelief as we heard stories of Muslim women who refused to claim
their new born babies because they could not bear to be ostracized from
their families as "unclean".
We shared in the struggle as he described how he and his little church
were so quickly immersed and then overwhelmed with the multitudinous
needs of suffering people around them, and how they could not get it all
done. We learned how God had linked him up with a ministry in the United
States to begin the only Christian refugee center in the entire former
Yugoslavia.
Following the evening session on Super Bowl Sunday night, we drove with
tear filled eyes to a local restaurant where we huddled in the farthest
corner, held hands, talked, wept, and prayed over what we had just seen
and heard.
We could hardly place our food order. The waitress thought we were sad
over the losers of the game. We were ---- but it was a different game,
and they were different losers than what she thought.
It was then that I heard, in the deepest corners of my soul, the
compassionate and quiet voice of the Father ---- "The vision is for the
appointed time ---- and this is the time, Bob. Go do it."
I took Jo Ann's hands in mine, and said, "We've got to go."
She agreed.
And, the rest is history.
One year later we began the latest adventure of our life-long pilgrimage.
Since that time we have ministered in Ukraine, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia,
Slovenia, Austria, Jamaica, and Colombia. We leave this coming May for
our seventh trip to Croatia since January, 1995.
As if God wanted to be sure we got the message, while our oldest daughter
and husband were doing missionary work in Cambodia, our grandson
Christopher was conceived in Pnong Phen. Then a few months later our
third daughter and her husband adopted three children from Russia.
It has been an absolute "virtual reality" ride ---- and we're not getting
off!
THE APPOINTED TIME:
Of all the things I've learned in my life, this one is one of the most
recent and may be one of the most important ----
"The Vision is for the appointed time.
"It hastens toward the goal, and it will not fail.
"Though it tarries, wait for it;
"For it will certainly come,
"And it will not delay."
Dear friend, I don't know if the appointed time has come for the vision
God has given you for ministry or not.
I don't even know what your vision is ----
Or if you even have one.
But these things I know beyond any doubt.
1. God has a vision for you.
2. It is for an appointed time and moment in history.
3. Though you may become impatient or even discouraged, you can and must
know that it is hastening toward the goal, and it will not fail.
4. Your job? ---- Wait for it, though it tarries.
5. It may tarry ---- but it won't delay (think that one through). It
will certainly come.
FINALLY:
Yesterday I preached in a church that had recently gone through a
difficult pastoral loss. I am being considered to possibly help them
through the process as their interim pastor.
My text for the two morning services was Romans 5:1-5; my subject was
"There Is Hope!"
However, as I made final preparation Saturday night, the Lord prompted me
with another passage of scripture.
As a preamble to my message, I read ----
"The vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal,
and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; for it will
certainly come, it will not delay."
I would say the same thing to you, my good friend.
Though it tarries, it will come ---- so wait for it.
Ever wonder what would have happened if God had answered Zacharias' and
Elizabeth's prayer too soon? John the Baptist would have shown up much
to early for his divine task.
What about Abraham and Sarah? Same thing.
As Ron Dunn said so many years ago, "God always answers immediately, but
sometimes later".
The granting is immediate, the getting sometimes tarries, but it is never
delayed.
Whatever the vision is for you, my friend, ---- it's enroute. Delivery
is eminent.
Have a great week while you wait with anticipation.
In Christ's Bond of Grace,
Bob Tolliver ---- (Rom 1:11-12)
Copyright March, 1999. All rights reserved.
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.
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{ (O) (O) }
------oOOOo--------U-------oOOOo------
Hang in there! I'm with you!
-------.ooooO--------------- Ooooo--------
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