This article was shared during Transformation Connection Indonesia,
which was held in Surabaya, Indonesia on 28 October - 1 November 2008
Recorded by Dr. Sharon Ayabe from Kauai
Shirley Brownhill - Megacities Jakarta 2008 2
30 October 2008 – TCI Surabaya
I want to invite Pastor Jimmy to come up. Pastor Jimmy is also one of these great men of God. He has also been serving and helping his regional coordinator in Jakarta. And he wants to share a testimony of how God is working in his area.
Shalom. Indonesia needs the Lord Jesus Christ, because Indonesia is ready to transform cities.
Now we are in Surabaya and I need to testify to all of you of what Mega-cities is doing especially in E. Jakarta. 90% of the area is Muslim. This area of Pondok Kopi could not be penetrated. But through the Mega-cities this area has been penetrated.
A facilitator from Jakarta in Mega-cities has caused a great breakthrough in these areas. We were questioned by the local authorities about our purpose and intention. At that moment we stated we would not take any political or religious symbols but only simple humanitarian and social works. The team realized the local authorities had invited all the other local authorities. The doors swung open wide and allowed us to go right through.
And the Mega-cities team had a prayer walk there.
Also, in education they were given opportunity to teach English in one of Muhammadiah’s schools. And this is a prestigious school in the area. And the students were so happy. They wanted us to sing. But we told them we had nothing to sing but they told us it was okay to sing church songs and we did.
Now I want to talk about discipling nations today. We had a wonderful message earlier from Mark. And he was talking about the discipling and training of nations and looking at all spheres of society. And he began to talk about discipleship in the area of government. But you know, we can believe that with all our heart and we can agree with that but if we don’t change our thinking we won’t change what we actually do in our communities.
This is how we change our thinking. We find out what God is saying in all aspects of society. Jesus is truly the answer, isn’t He? Do we all love Jesus? Is He the answer to every category of society? Well, let’s find out what He’s calling us to. Find out what He’s saying about that area and ask God to open up doors to us.
In Acts 1 we see the leadership of the Holy Spirit beginning to emerge. And, wherever the leadership of the Holy Spirit is, nations will begin to be transformed. In Acts 1:8, the Holy Spirit has a mandate to tell people everywhere, to communicate about the Kingdom of God.
The wonderful thing about the leadership of the Holy Spirit is that He knows every heart. He understands every nation. He loves every nation. He doesn’t have favorite nations. Although we might believe that Indonesia is one of His favorites, yeah? But He doesn’t have favorite nations. In other words, He provides leadership in every nation.
Why does He do that? Because the nations and the people of our communities are precious to Him. The most profound thing about Acts 1 is the Holy Spirit is the leader. The 3rd person of the Godhead takes leadership on the earth.
In Acts 2 it says the church was born. The church was born by the coming of the person of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not an atmosphere that dwells more in the church than in the community. In fact, He wants to lead us into the community so the Kingdom of God can come.
And it says in Acts 2 He’s looking for a united group of people. Not all agreeing with each other but united around the purposes of God on the earth. We have so much diversity just in this room. We have so much difference. We have so many ideas. It’s impossible for us all to be in unity, unless we gather around the purposes of God. We can all follow God together as long as we are willing to be servants of His purpose on earth.
So, the Holy Spirit is looking for a united group of people. And when He finds, them, He comes and fills them. After all our personal experience with God, when the Holy Spirit comes and fills us, He makes us a lot smarter than we could ever be without Him and then He enables us. He gives us tasks to do for His purposes.
The church shouldn’t be selfish. The church emerged in Acts 2 to lay its life down. And here we have this lovely church that is emerging in Acts 2. And the church is not a building. The church is all ages. It’s devoted. It’s a group of people listening to God so they can obey God. It’s a group of people that live in incredible gratefulness because the Son of the living God died for them. So, then they prayed to the living God. A church that sees God’s miracles.
They’re a generous church. They give to everyone who has need. Because beloved, we cannot out give God. We don’t get the call on the basis of consulting our wallets. You and I will run out of money. But God never runs out of money. And He is able to provide for the call of God on our lives. Don’t look at Indonesia as a financial problem. That’s not the issue.
The issue is we must look at Indonesia from God’s perspective. “Lord, what should the Kingdom of God look like in Indonesia?” “What’s the blueprint from your Word for Indonesia?” And then we get busy doing it.
And this church in Acts 2, a church I’ve just described to you, kept being added to daily. So often we spend a lot of our time looking at church growth issues. But really what we’re dealing with is church transfer. Beloved church growth will come if we’re reaching our communities. And, it’s not about the size of our churches, but it’s the impact they have in our communities. God has called us to be salt and light.
In Acts 4, we see that many believed. It was 5000+. One message, led by the power of the Holy Spirit and 5000 believed. The council and the government were absolutely amazed. These are ordinary men. How did they speak in such an amazing way that many people would make lifestyle changes forever? So this was a discussion and in Acts 4 they made a conclusion, they said these are men who have been with Jesus. And what began to happen was this unstoppable movement broke out. We want an unstoppable movement to break out in this land. If it’s a movement of God it will be unstoppable, because we will be willing to pay any price. Whatever it takes for the Lamb of God to receive the reward of His sufferings.
In Acts 5, we see the Holy Spirit was given to those that obeyed Him. Obedience is a prerequisite, we must be obedient, to have the honor of the Holy Spirit accompanying our efforts. But if we’re prepared to do what God wants us to do, to go where He wants us to go, then the power of God will be with us. Because the Christian life is never meant to be powerless.
If we look at the world and the needs of the world, and we look at ourselves, it would be very understandable that we become overwhelmed. But if we follow God, to the places that He wants to take us in our society, we will never be overwhelmed because we will understand one very important truth. That it’s not about our ability it’s about God’s power. When men and women obey God, God begins to break out on the earth.
We see in Acts 6 there was rapid multiplication. There was so much multiplication they had to set up another level of leadership. So, the church and the Kingdom of God were growing.
In Acts 7, Stephen was stoned.
In Acts 8, there was persecution. And the church was scattered. And they began to preach the Kingdom of God in the other places they fled to. The church became Kingdom-of God-makers beyond their own region. They did not stop with persecution. It worked to scatter them and to see the advancement of the Kingdom of God abroad.
They were influencers. We, as the church, as disciples of Jesus Christ, are called to influence rather than to be influenced. Our shape should be the shape of the Kingdom of God. Our thinking should be the thinking of God.
What would God do in this situation? What’s God going to say to the church about our current financial situations on the earth right now? God has much to say. God has things to disciple us in. Where we have departed from God in the ways of our economies around the earth. That’s why things have gone wrong. Because there have been problems in the heart of man in the ways of greed. There’s been a lack of trust in the living God. What’s our voice there? What does God want us to do? There are many businessmen hurting all over the earth. The Kingdom of God needs to come to them. God has something to say to them, to call them to alignment. We are called to influence rather than to be influenced.
But sometimes intellectualism and the church block that very ability to hear from God, because we are comfortable with how we do things. Or we’re so confident about our own ideas that we’re not open to the voice of God. Educational systems through our nations condition us to believe that without question we live in a world of cause and effect, a world of predictability.
But, friends, God is not predictable. Yes, He’s the same, yesterday, today and forever. His ways never change. But He is a dynamic God and He is on the move in the world today. And He wants to see change. He wants to see transformation. He’s not happy with the way things are. And He is wanting us to be open.
Wanting, willing, waiting. Looking for opportunity. Listening to His voice. Ready when He speaks. He is wanting us to be closely following Him.
God is not over there, where we say to Him, “God bless my plans.” God must be right here. We must be able to reach out and touch the hem of His garment. We need to be that close to following Him or we have no hope in discipling the nations. Because Jesus is the authority of all authorities. He is the greatest mind in the universe. He knows how to provide leadership for our nation.
And, of all people, we, the church must listen to God. And as we listen, we must have an absolute commitment to think and to behave like Jesus. We must have an absolute commitment to think and to behave like Jesus. If we do this, beloved, it will lead us to a transformed nation.
But as we read the Bible, we know that worth always comes at a price. There is always a price you will have to pay.
As the early church sought the presence of God, they didn’t compromise on anything He said. They didn’t tell God, “You can’t move that way in our nation. God, You can’t do that, don’t You understand that won’t work?” Friends, that’s why we don’t see change. Because we compromise the voice of God. We compromise the Word of God.
The early church was full of faith and goodness and kindness and they were also full of courage. They were a very courageous church. They talked about God all the time and really loved Him. They had an intimate relationship with Him. And, they said, “Lord, whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it.”
Why were they so willing? Because they were people who knew their God and God used them to do great exploits. They had God’s big vision in their hearts. I’m speaking to leaders in this room: When a leader has a vision, things begin to happen. But true vision comes from waiting in the presence of God. And, if we fail to surrender to God’s vision, what we do as leaders is slip into self-effort.
God is not looking for self-effort. God is looking for obedience. God wants to do it His way, because He is the answer. He is the way, the truth, and the life for every problem in every category within our nations. Our lives must be a daily walk of surrender. Then, we as leaders will do it God’s way.
Beloved, if we are going to disciple nations, I think we need to constantly be going back as leaders and examine how we do church. We cannot continue to do the same and expect a different result. We have to be seeking God for God’s ways. And, this one thing we need to do, is to reconnect with our communities. And, you know, you represent many churches and many cities.
I love the vision of this nation that by the year 2020 you want to see this nation transformed. Please do this, Indonesia. How do we start? Your nation is a big nation. It only takes one church, one group of people, to get the vision and to start doing it. Because Jesus did first, then He taught. So, if you’re that one church, get out and start doing. Others will notice what you’re doing and then you can draw people into the vision and you’ll be doing and teaching as you go. Jesus will lead you in all of your efforts of faith related to community challenge. Jesus is much smarter than we are. We must know what He is saying in His Word.
One of the things He says is, “I will bring you before the courts of Kings and tell you what to do.” God can do that. He does that with people that listen to Him.
So, I want to encourage you to take one part of your city. Get the cooperation of other groups, churches, missions, groups, civic groups, businessmen, government and start serving and keep on serving. And it will begin to open doors to you. And if we start to get the focus right, then many will come and join you.
The church is called to serve. We can be servant leaders by gathering our whole community together and saying, “Let’s see what we can do to make a difference in this community”.
God wants to give us a vision to bring Christians and non-Christians together. We just have to have a big vision of God to see it. It says in Isaiah 58:12, some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins. I’d like to say that many of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. And the Bible goes on to say in Isaiah 58, that you’ll be known as a rebuilder of walls, as a restorer of homes, we rebuild invisible walls in our communities and cities.
But we can only do that when the watchmen on our walls are involved in the communities. You are not powerless. If you have 2 legs, or even if you don’t, get yourselves in the communities. Be watchmen on the walls. Deal with the power of destruction in your communities and be involved in what God is wanting to do. And with that gathering, people, you will have all the giftings you need to bring health to a community.
God wants to use you as someone who brings convergence to communities. Beloved, I want to close with this thought. I only have a short time this morning.
Just imagine if you decided to believe God for 100% of engagement in this nation. In other words, you didn’t believe God for 50% but your end goal is that every church in the nation of Indonesia would have community engagement, at some level. You’ve got leaders of nations within the church of Indonesia. Therefore, according to the giftings and anointings on peoples lives, if we dared to believe God for that, if we shared the vision with every church and leader.