Redeem Your Time
We are already a third of the way through 2012, and with the AGM coming up and Pentecost soon after that, I thought that it might be a good time to remind ourselves what the big picture for the ministry in COOS is all about.

In John 6:26 Jesus addressed the crowd that had come after him, saying “... you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.” This verse reveals to us that there are many who come to Jesus and follow him, not because of who Jesus is, but because of the benefit that they can derive from him for their own lives and purposes. The fate of these kind of followers was made painfully clear only a few verses later in John 6:66 where it says, “From that time many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more.” What a tragic conclusion. This should warn us that the call to follow Jesus isn’t simply about attracting people to him with a suitable carrot, be it of wealth, health or some other form of self-fulfilment. This approach is remarkably prevalent today and has produced an entire generation of Christians who have legitimized their self-pursuit while at the same time completely missing on God’s revealed purposes for our days.

One of my major endeavours in COOS is to disciple you to be an end-time ready community, to teach exactly what the bible and the Lord taught, and ground us all firmly in God’s revealed truth. Next, I would like to equip COOS to strategically impact society, bringing God’s kingdom to your spheres. Lastly, we need to be aware of God’s prophetic time-line, knowing where we are in the sequence of events, and defend against the many lies and deceptive schemes of Satan.

I want to take this opportunity to tell you that we are far from doing business as usual in COOS - this is a vital season when there is much left to do to build up the walls of our city. These are the days of which Paul spoke of when he wrote Eph 5:15-17:-

“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,
redeeming the time because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
(Eph 5:15-17 NKJV)