Spiritual Consolidation

WE HEAR a lot about consolidation in our church today. Many express the thought that they do not want to consolidate with this or that. But the Lord wants to consolidate with us. The Lord wants to unite with us. Yet He does not force us. Only with God can we consolidate the differences. Paul says: "So there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free men, between men and women: you are all one in union with Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28, T.E.V.).* "Instead, by speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head. Under his control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. So when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love" (Eph. 4:15, 16, T.E.V.). In Portuguese the first part of verse 16 says, "and from whom the whole body, well fitted and consolidated."

The Lord wants to consolidate with His people and His ministers. Jesus came down to consolidate heaven and earth. The vertical bar of the cross proves it. It is our relation with God. It is our consolidation with heaven. The horizontal bar ought to be our consolidation with our fellow men. As ministers we must consolidate with Christ in order to be able to help those who wallow in the mud of sin. In the remainder of this article we will discuss some areas that need consolidation.

We Must Consolidate Our Conversion to Christ

What? Talk of conversion to ministers? Is this possible? One need not search long in the Bible to find many that were not truly converted: Judas was never truly converted to Christ, and he was a disciple; Balaam was not truly converted, and he was a prophet; Saul was not truly converted, and he was the first king of Israel; Eli was not truly converted, and he was a priest of the sanctuary; Peter was not truly converted until the death of Christ.

Have we as ministers of God turned completely from the things of this world? Our evangelists used to say that conversion means to turn completely in the other direction. Have we surrendered to Christ? We are told:

Christ will be with every minister who, although he may not have attained to perfection of character, is seeking most earnestly to become Christlike. Such a minister will pray. He will weep between the porch and the altar, crying in soul anguish tor the Lord's presence. --Testimonies to Ministers, p. 143.

Why is it that many young people are not taking the "trip" with us? Is it because we have not fully surrendered to Christ?

Paul said, "This one thing I do." He was not involved in worldly matters. Many ministers would receive a very low salary if they had to punch in and out!

John Wesley said, "What a terrible thing for me if I would be ignorant of the power of the truth that I am willing to proclaim."

Today we see many preachers in the world to whom the Lord will say that day, "I never knew you," because we never really knew Him.

Ellen G. White says: "When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come." --Christ's Object Lessons, p. 69.

Have we consolidated our conversion? Are we with Christ? There must be no boundaries, no differences, between the Lord and us!

Have We Consolidated Our Vocation?

Paul counseled Timothy, "For this reason I remind you to keep alive the gift that God gave to you when I laid my hands on you" (2 Tim. 1:6, T.E.V.). He continues, "A soldier in active service does not get mixed up in the affairs of civilian life be cause he wants to please his commanding officer" (chap. 2:4, T.E.V.).

Paul wanted to make sure that his "high calling of God" and his sovereign vocation were consolidated! As an ambassador of God Paul felt the tremendous responsibility of preaching the Word of God. John was called to prepare the way for the Lamb of God. The Lord has called us today to announce to the world the soon coming of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Robert H. Pierson said, "We need not as much brilliant people today, but dedicated preachers." Yes, preachers who are sure of their vocation and election to preach the message. Preachers who are second to none. Preachers who will go out compelled by the Spirit of God.

A young man from New York wrote me recently, "I've been reading the Spirit of Prophecy and the Bible and it seems to me that is all I want to do. I have a strong urge to preach the Word. Never have I in my whole life felt this way. And I thank God for all He has done for me." With young men like this we can turn the world up side down. He wants to study theology. He's sure of his vocation!

If our vocation is consolidated in Christ we will feel this urge to preach the Word of God. It will be the moving power in our lives. Paul tells us how to consolidate our vocation in 2 Timothy 4:5: "But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry."

We Must Consolidate Our Devotional Life to the Lord

"Elder Ranzolin, I want to be ready. Please pray for me. We shall pray for you. Pray for the group. We need God so much. We have to pray for the latter rain. I want it so badly that I just can't express my feelings." This young man in New York wants to consolidate his spiritual life with the Lord. It's the only way to receive the power of the Holy Spirit.

The only way to consolidate our faith is to live a vertical life. There is power in a vertical life power that can change lives. Elijah's vertical life brought fire straight from God, and victory to God's people. Abraham's vertical life built altars for God wherever he went and was a testimony to the nations. Job's vertical life doubled his temporal blessings as he prayed for his friends. Moses' vertical life brought water, manna, food from heaven.

In my opinion, there are four P's in the art of sermon preparation. The first one is prayer. Then preparation, practice, and preaching. There can be no preaching without prayer. How many preachers we see today without power; how many messengers without a message; how many ambassadors without an office; how much preaching without communication. There must be a prayer consolidation in order that the minister might receive the power. "They all joined together in a group to pray frequently" (Acts 1:14, T.E.V.). "When the day of Pentecost arrived, all the believers were gathered together in one place" (chap. 2:1, T.E.V.). Only this unity of prayer will bring the Holy Spirit. The ministers that pray together will stay together, of one accord, of one desire to serve the Lord.

When we have entire, wholehearted consecration to the service of Christ, God will recognize the fact by an outpouring of His Spirit without measure. --Counsels on Stewardship, p. 52.

For the baptism of the Holy Spirit every worker should be breathing out his prayer to God. Companies should be gathered together to call upon God for special help, for heavenly wisdom, that the people of God may know how to plan and devise and execute the work. . , . For ten days the disciples prayed before the Pentecostal blessing. --Testimonies to Ministers, p. 170.

We talk much about generation gaps to day. I believe the crucial problem is a "regeneration" gap! It was only when the regeneration gap was consolidated that Pentecost came.

Another thing that needs consolidating in our devotional life is the study of the Word of God. Paul says, "Watch yourself, and watch your teaching" (1 Tim. 4:16, T.E.V.). Paul wanted Timothy to master the Bible and its teachings. He was always reminding Timothy of the things he had learned from his mother and grandmother. How much we need the Word of God in our day. Hosea 4:6 says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."

The study of the Word is the sine qua non of the minister's life. A minister can become too professional in his spiritual life and forget to study the Word of God a punch-in-and-out minister who does just so much. The vertical life is essential to be able to live horizontally with our fellow men.

Is Our Message Consolidated?

I think that there is much consolidation to be done in this area. The boundaries of our messages are too wide and too complicated, not to say divided.

Let's hear Paul's counsel, "I command you to preach the message, to insist upon telling it, whether the time is right or not; to convince, reproach, and encourage, teaching with all patience" (2 Tim. 4:1, 2, T.E.V.).

Is this the kind of message we are preaching? He continues in chapter 2:15: "Do your best to win full approval in God's sight, as a worker who is not ashamed of his work, one who correctly teaches the mes sage of God's truth" (T.E.V.).

Many ministers are heeding the counsel of the members instead of the counsel of God. Isaiah 30:10 says, "Speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits." How many are listening to the people and speaking flattery, smooth, soft, pleasant things! There must be some consolidation in our message. Some will preach about miniskirts and forget that the problem is the heart. Yes, the heart must be changed. Only through Jesus Christ can this be done. Others vanish into a world of psychology and guilt, and the unlearned people vanish in ignorance for not understanding what is being said.

What ought to be our message for these times? Preach that Jesus Christ is coming soon, very soon! Preach that Jesus Christ is the only Saviour of mankind. Preach that Jesus Christ expects us to go out and share our faith. Preach that Jesus Christ promised a Comforter. Preach that we must get ready. Now! Forget about philosophy. The greatest philosophy is the philosophy of salvation. Paul preached Christ, a crucified Christ, who was alive. He wanted to die with Christ.

How many times we leave the pulpit frustrated. Why? There was no power. We did not preach Christ and His coming. We did not tell the people to get out there and live the gospel. For MISSION '72 and MISSION '73 to succeed, the preachers will have to tell the people to go into the world and preach the message.

Ellen G. White says:

Rejoice not in the possession of power, lest you lose sight of your dependence upon God. Be careful lest self-sufficiency come in, and you work in your own strength, rather than in the spirit and strength of your Master. --The Desire of Ages, p. 493.

Every time we think that we are great preachers we are doomed to failure. Our message must carry the urgency of these last days. The Lord is opening doors every where. All over the world we see signs that the moment of opportunity is upon us. This is the time. The last-day events are before our very eyes.

Some time ago I arrived home and my wife asked, "Did you see Larry?" I said, "No." Larry is our youngest son, seven years old. We all started looking for him. We visited the neighbors and his little friends, but there was no word about him. My wife was getting desperate. We had the whole neighborhood looking for him. When we were just about to go to the police he showed up smiling and saying, "Hi, Dad!" I asked, "Where have you been?" "Oh, playing with my friend about a block from here." What a relief! But this experience taught me a lesson. I had many things to do that evening---write letters, prepare sermons, work in the office. My wife had to cook, sew clothes, et cetera, but at that moment we forgot everything! Why? Our son was lost! Isn't this the attitude we should have for a lost world?

MISSION '72

MISSION '72 is here. It is time to go out in evangelism and preach the Word of God. What are we doing about it? Are we consolidating our message? There is an interesting account in the Bible of when the tribes of Reuben and Gad came to the land of Jazer. Finding it beautiful and wonderful for cattle raising, they did not want to cross the Jordan River. They said, "Let us stay right here." Listen to what Moses said to them. "Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here" (Num. 32:6)?

I say today, shall your brethren go to MISSION '72 and preach the message while you sit here preaching about guilt or psychology? How about it? Let us rally the churches with the right message, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel."

We have increased light. We have a solemn, weighty message to hear to the world, and God designs that His chosen disciples shall have a deep experience, and be endowed with the power of the Holy Spirit. --Testimonies to Ministers, p. 173.

This is the spiritual consolidation that must take place in our church today. All boundaries of strife, sin, and self must be taken away. We must be united in prayer, study of the Bible, and in the preaching of His coming. Why?

The Lord is coming. We hear the footsteps of an approaching God, as He comes to punish the world for its iniquity. We are to prepare the way for Him hy acting our part in getting a people ready for that great day. --Evangelism, p. 219.