Conscious of your difficulties Part 2
As I prepare to take another tour to Israel this week I am very conscious that many of you are unable to visit Israel for many reasons. Financial restrictions are a major obstacle but also the logistics of organising it yourself are huge. I first went to Israel 1967 but I have been returning to Israel regularly since 2003 when I went to investigate the suicide bombings and report back to the UK the horrors of that terrible period in Israel’s history.
This gives me experience and vision to enable me to help others visit this wonderful country and meet the people I have been friends with for so long. However I can’t do the organising on my own and at Father’s House we are really blessed to have administrators and organisers such as Margaret Buckley and Jenny Di-Marco who plan the tours and deal with the paperwork insurance and flights. What a blessing that is. They are also, with others, key advisers to what we do and how the tours are conducted. Paul writes about working together as a body in this way;
14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honourable we treat with special honour. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honour to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it. 1 Cor 12:14-26 (ANIV)
In this body Paul is referring to are teachers, prophets pastors etc and those with gifts in various forms;
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 1 Cor 12:27-30 (ANIV)
We all have to work together to make this body effective. As a pastor here at Fathers House I can’t help anyone effectively on my own because there are others who have giftings which I don’t have. I need to recognise those giftings and work to support them in order to function in the way God wants us to. In the world there is a Pyramid leadership with those always referring to a higher level of command. As a Police officer I understood that the only way to run a Police service was to have a Chief Constable at the top and then Superintendants, Inspectors, Sergeants and Constable. It worked well, but Gods structure works better because if everyone is filled with His spirit. The Holy Spirit is our leading and if we all listen to Him He shows us how to use our gifting. Our gifting is given to serve the body of Yeshua which means we use the gifting given to us, to help others in the body use their gifting effectively. Rather than a Pyramid structure as the Police, we are all able to hear God our Father for ourselves and operate on the same horizontal line, serving each other whether Jew, Greek Slave or Free to enable His work to be done on earth.
This is so difficult for allot of my brothers and sisters to attain because they are not able to be in fellowship for a number of reasons. Supporting Israel, keeping the Feasts of The Lord, Sabbath are all particular issues which often isolate or even alienate us from fellowship in the wider Christian Church. Shirley my wife, and our congregation are praying about how we can help those who are in this position, so would you please pray with us to ask God how we can support the many of you who are either not in fellowship or are not being effective in your fellowship.
In Yeshua
Mike