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    SCHOOL OF ISRAEL
    Mini-Study Guides, 1994-5
    "More Than Conquerors"

    21. Fear -- the Thing to Fear


    SCRIPTURAL MEDITATION: Jeremiah 30:1-17

    I have never met a person in the world who was not possessed by some fear or another. And I have met many Christians who, having received Christ as their Saviour, are disappointed that their fears have not been instantaneously blown away. They have usually failed to understand that salvation is not only just an event but a process often requiring long, diligent discipleship.

    Before I examine the question of fear in more detail I want to make it quite clear that not all fear is bad. I do not subscribe to the Buddhist doctrine which regards every kind of fear as negative and unhealthy. There are some fears which are positive and beneficial so perhaps we ought to deal with those first.

    Some fears contribute to our efficiency and well-being. Fear, after all, is the best policeman on our traffic-infested roads. A few months ago, when driving to work through a forest, I surprised a moose, and it immediately bounded across the road towards safety. Great fear was upon it. But it was fear that contributed to fleetness and self-preservation.

    There was a lady who had a small operation and the nurses told her she was too calm. Medical research shows that those who show no fear take longer to recover from an operation. Surprised? I was too. Some fear is beneficial. The fear to sin is an obviously beneficial fear -- if we did not fear to displease our Heavenly Father the chances are our consciences wouldn't be so finely tuned and we would, in many circumstances, slip into sin more easily.

    But the fears I am concerned with here are the fears that paralyse and incapacitate us. I will never forget a wildlife film I once saw which showed a small bird sitting on the branch of a tree being mesmerized by the eyes of a large cobra. It sat there crouched in fear before the cobra's over-arching hood. Fear had paralysed it and made it an easy prey.

    No Christian need be paralysed by fear. Aware of it, perhaps, even apprehensive, but never its prey. Some of our fears may be external things which stand over us like a cobra's hood and make us afraid. Or they may be vague inward fears, like fear of failure, fear of poverty, fear of death, fear of sickness, fear of people, and so on. Whatever the fear, if it hinders a Christian's functioning, then it simply has to go.

    From the moment God called this work into existence there has been fear in those parts of the Christian community we have come into contact with -- the fear of being overshadowed by a greater light. Initially that led our people to being over-confident and boastful and the Lord has had to severely humble us and remind us that what the New Covenant has is His light, not ours. And because this humbling process has taken so long -- and will continue if we don't fully repent -- this has led some to doubt this Church's call and led them to fear that they had made a terrible mistake in becoming a part of it.

    Of those who initially came to us, over half have departed. They had many fears, all different. But the greatest fear of all has without doubt been the fear to have sin exposed. I have seen it in their eyes, seen it in their actions, seen it in many ways. And I still see it from time to time in the eyes of those who have remained.

    I guess there are many who are beginning to fear that Kadesh will never be. We set concrete goals last autumn and still the Lord has not revealed the exact site. We have set 1 May as the deadline for knowing, subject to the Lord's approval. I know several of you are searching for land but I wonder how many of you have found solutions to the enormous financial obstacles we face? It is one thing to find a location but quite another to get the money that is needed, especially with so much debt in the Church. So I ask you a sober question: how many here are now seriously doubting that Kadesh will be found this year? Put your hands up if you have done do? [].

    I hope you have been honest because without honesty we cannot move on as our Pastor challenged us to do last month. If we have been dishonest in our reply, was the root fear? Were we afraid to be seen to be weak? Well, let's be honest, we're weak, and pretending we aren't is a big lie, no matter how much we may know! We're not a big congregation belonging to a world-wide denomination where we can be sure that there are rich people amongst us on whom God can move to make a large financial contribution. We're not! We need considerably more faith than that. Much more! Has not God not promised to strengthen those who are weak? (Ezek.34:16) Is our faith weak? [Yes/No].

    The last few months I have suffered several blows one after the other that have made Kadesh seem even more remote to me personally. In odd moments, I admit, I have doubted. But as I have looked around for alternatives, I have seen that there are none. But I have also understood that Kadesh is not going to fall out of the sky. There is a sequence of events that must take place first.

    The other day the Lord gave me one of the missing keys I have been looking for. You all know that the Holy Order has given us several revelations on Kadesh. One that stands out in my mind are the visions of the "New Covenant Ship" (NC&C 358; 360; 407; 429). In the first one the ship was suspended in the sky, brand new, waiting to be used. It represented us, the New Covenant Church of God. In the second, the ship was in the water, with a large NPKF [local Colonial] flag on its mast, at anchor, waiting to sail. The problem was that the holds were empty. It had no cargo on board.

    Well, I believe I know what that cargo is now. The other day I had a dream and found myself in a grain silo. In the middle of the silo was a huge pile of threshed wheat, surrounded all around by the threshed stalks. At once I knew that the wheat seeds represented the Word of God and all the stalks represent the vehicle that got us here -- the old Independent Church which has been thrashed out of us these last few years. The holds of the ship are to be filled with the pure Word of God and not speculative doctrines or those things reserved for the inner Church. The ship flew the NPKF flag, not the Order's, though it had the Order's authority on the funnels. The ship must be filled until the holds are full with the Word of Salvation for a world crying in need. What we are doing here in NPKF in our Sunday Schools and other meetings is preparing the seed that will launch this Church into its world mission. What you invest in your Sunday School studies will equip you for the work of the ministry that is coming.

    I believe firmly that the new leadership of the Order was absolutely right in suspending the activities of the Order for the time-being and making the NPKF our immediate goal. We have prayed the Lord to open new doors for us. He has done that. What door has been opened? The answer is Holmlia, in Oslo. It is the only door that has opened. And I believe we would be incredibly foolish if we did not go into it now! [1]

    I know that this is the Pastor's conviction too and therefore I urgently invite this congregation to throw its soul into missionary work and to the establishment of the Holmlia Bible Study Group. I, for myself, will do all I can to support it, and have myself received permission to start an English Bible Fellowship in Oslo.

    I urge, therefore, in the Lord's Name, that (1) we make ourselves diligent students of the Scriptures and absorb what we have been taught in the Sunday Schools, and (2) we get actively involved in the Holmlia project.

    I firmly believe that this is the first door into Kadesh and that if we don't enter it that we won't enter Kadesh either [2]. This, after all, is what Kadesh is for -- to be a missionary base of the saints living in close, cooperative fellowship with each other. If we aren't already actively involved on the missionary and teaching front, then what will be the point of Kadesh?

    I leave these things for you to pray over and pray that the Lord, in His wisdom and mercy, will yet condescend to reveal Kadesh to us by May. But first, let us consecrate ourselves to the Bible Groups and get witnessing on the streets, is my prayer, in Jesus' Name. Amen.

    Invitation to Baptism

    Brethren and sisters, if there are any of you who have never received Christ as your personal Saviour, and would like to do so, I invite you to come and stand before the altar and make your request known, where you will be helped to make a prayer of commitment to Him. If there are any who have received Christ and who have been led by the Holy Spirit to unite themselves with this people, then I invite both them and those who are meeting Christ for the first time to receive water baptism at the soonest possible opportunity, as commanded by Scripture -- the first to be baptised into Christ, and all to be baptised into the New Covenant.

    If there is anyone who would like to have private counsel first, they too are invited to come up to the stand. We will now have a few minutes of spiritual music to allow those who wish to commit themselves to come up to the altar...

    Prayers of Commitment
    Simple Prayer

    Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for the gift of eternal life. I know that I am a sinner and that I cannot save myself. I believe Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for my sins and rose again from the dead. I now put my complete trust in You alone for eternal life. Thank you for delivering me! In Jesus' Name. Amen.

    Special Prayer

    Dear Heavenly Father, I want to be Your child and I want to be completely free. I confess that Jesus is Lord, I believe You raised Him from the dead and I confess my need for the new birth and freedom He alone can give. I want this. I renounce (the occult, drugs, rock music, sexual obsession, homosexuality, etc.) and all its lifestyle and activity. I renounce all things connected with (the occult, drugs, etc.) that have touched my life recently or have come into my life through my family or friends. I renounce it all, turn from it and ask you to forgive me, free and deliver me from all its consequences. I ask you to fill me with Your Holy Spirit and lead me in the way I should go. I count this done, and thank you for it, in the mighty Name of Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

    Historical Footnote

    [1] The response to the Holmlia project was lukewarm with few being willing to make the sacrifice to get it started. This kind of problem often troubled the Church in the early years.

    [2] The door to Kadesh turned out to be further purification and a final rebellion of the disobedient and lukewarm (the "Third Rebellion").



    This page was created on 16 May 1998
    Updated on 16 May 1998

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