Obedience To God Isn’t Always Easy
Jonah can be known as the reluctant missionary. He was disobedient, selfish, and sinful. He was totally prejudiced and found many times without faith; and yet God saw fit to use him. Now that gives great hope to many of us. Some of the things we are asked of God puts us in a stage that isn’t comfortable. But how can pure gold become pure without first going through the fire to rid itself of impurities? It can’t. And neither can we. Obedience to God isn’t always easy, but a requirement of what it means to have true faith.
“When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.” -Jonah 2:7
Tadios Msipa, a student of CLI, experienced his own command from the Lord. He found obedience to God isn’t always at the best convenient times in our life as he writes, “The call of God is one call I have tried to do a Jonah on, however the callings of God are without repentance. My name is Tadios Msipa. I am a pastor at House of Refugee Global Ministries in Maseru, Lesotho. I was born more than four decades ago in the Southern African republic of Zimbabwe. It was while in my Junior High School that I became born again and became a Christian. I have been a Christian for more than twenty-five years. After getting born again, I was privileged to work in several high profile positions in Financial Institutions and Non-Governmental Organizations. Earlier on in my life, I received several prophetic words concerning my call to ministry. I chose to ignore those words over a very long period of time. I did this primarily for two reasons. The first one being fear of poverty. I grew up seeing a lot of struggling pastors and I thought pastoral work was certainly not my piece of cake. Over the years, I wrestled with God and told Him that I needed my two children to first graduate before I entered into full time Ministry. The second reason I could not get started in ministry is due to the lack of know-how on the part of what to do when I needed to start ministry.”
Without Obedience To God, Trouble Comes Our Way
Isn’t it so true how trouble in so many different ways come our way? We will criticize ourself in the behavior or lack of faith we have. We know better and struggle to completely surrender to God’s will. We fall on hardships and begin to see little by little things go from good to bad or not so good to even worse. Is it our disobedience? What is God teaching us in this trial? If we begin to have obedience to God, will we too be thrown up out of the whale as Jonah discovered? But even as Jonah faced the storm, God was always with him. And with us, God is with us during rays of shine or stormy weather.
“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials…” -1 Peter 1:6
Here is what trouble came to Tadios as he states, “In 2006, there was a serious economic meltdown in my country and I came to Lesotho in search of greener pastures. I joined a leading charismatic church in the nation. I continued to serve the Lord as a minister for seven years. The Lord again reminded me of the call upon my life. I was willing to obey, but I did not know how to get into ministry, especially given that I had no papers for ministry. The Lord then sent a prophetess I never knew to rebuke me about my refusal to obey God. It was at that point in time that I chose to get started with a new ministry as the lay Pastor. I have been in that role for the past six months and I realize that although I have the call of God upon my life I need equipping in theology, but since our ministry is relatively new they could not send me to any bible school. However, by the grace of God, as I googled on the net I saw Christian Leaders Institute, which offers free Ministry Education.”
Obedience To God Fulfills Many Purposes For Self And For The Seeds We Bring Forth
Now, the record of Jonah is not just the biography of a reluctant missionary. He does have some redeeming virtues, and God has placed it here for our edification; the point that He wants to make is how God can recover such a person. Once Jonah received redemption, his obedience to God was willingly there to be used and a whole town was saved by God’s grace. We must fulfill what God is asking of us. You never know who God is trying to reach by using you. We are a vessel for God’s Spirit to indwell in.
“Even if good people fall seven times, they will get back up.” -Proverbs 24:16
With Tadios surrendering to the Lord and in his own obedience to God, he has been bearing fruit through the Spirit of God. He claims, “I have since completed my high quality certificate in Basic Christian Leadership and hope to go all the way to the diploma. I am grateful to all donors and sponsors who sponsor this Godly Institute to empower kingdom workers who are fully equipped for Kingdom business. It is also our hope that as our Ministry grows we will also donate to CLI so that other ministers may also benefit as I and many others are doing. This certificate will certainly help us impact the nation of Lesotho for Jesus as we populate heaven and plunder hell.”
Let us pray for Tadios and all missionaries to stay on the path God is taking us on. Let us not be led astray by fear. For we are on a mission. We must reach the lost. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen!
The Little Church Is Led By CLI Student Jim Pounder
The Little Church World seeks to help small groups of Christians worship God and have church anywhere in the world in small groups. This is especially relevant in places where the public meeting of Christians is frowned on or forbidden. Jim Pounder of The Little Church is seeking more ministry training at Christian Leaders Institute so his leadership at The Little Church World is strengthened even more. Check out The Little Church World and contact Jim directly if interested (Here is the link to the website of The Little Church World). Here is Jim Pounder’s story:
My name is Jim Pounder and I am pastoring at The Little Church online. I am currently living in Hong Kong. I was born in Sheffield in the county of Yorkshire in the UK. My father worked in the UK steel industry which, at the time, was centered in Sheffield. He was a union man and both parents were to the far left in politics with religion considered to be the ‘opium of the masses’. In view of this background, I was squarely a non-believer although when I look back to my early school days, I recall that I was taught famous Bible stories in school such as the story of Samson and Delilah and David and Goliath. To me, at the time, these were just adventure stories but, nevertheless, were part of a foundation on which the Lord could build in my later years.
In the early 1980’s I relocated with my wife and young family to Hong Kong and shortly after arriving and settling there, my wife had a call to tell her that her father had passed away suddenly and she returned back to the UK to attend his funeral. She was understandably upset given that she was close to him and during that time she experienced what can only be called the presence of the Holy Spirit although neither of us recognized it at the time. Also shortly after our arrival in Hong Kong, she had been taken ill and had a near death experience where she experienced the peace of the Lord.
Both these events led us, as a couple, to explore the spiritual dimension of existence and we investigated a number of faith systems. However, after a number of years, my wife fully committed to the Lord and after much reading I decided that the strong balance of evidence was in favour of God’s existence and of Jesus’ status as the Son of God. The evidence for the resurrection was very crucial to my intellectual acceptance of the faith and I found Josh McDowell’s ‘More than a Carpenter’ a key text in moving me towards this intellectual acceptance.
Due to the fact that I was a University Professor in Hong Kong, able to speak in public, I seemed to be given various church leadership roles including the lay leader of an Anglican church in Hong Kong and later, with my wife, establishing a non-denominational church that held its services in the hotel where I was living at the time with my family. This was the situation spanning the late 1990s to the early 2000s when my wife and I relinquished the leadership role in the non-denominational church due to relocation to another part of Hong Kong where for one year we attended the Hong Kong International Baptist Church.
In September 2005, we relocated to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and after attending some of the official churches there and a large fellowship group, felt that we needed to have our own services in our villa where we were living in Abu Dhabi. One thing led to another and before long we were again in church leadership, running a fellowship group that comprised around 30 persons. This was not our intention but was obviously God’s intention. One thing I need to state here is that in the UAE, a part of the Muslim world, we faced the full force of spiritual warfare about which we were naive before taking on church leadership roles in an Islamic state. However, God is good and at this time my hitherto intellectual acceptance of the Lord moved from the head to the heart as I experienced the full force of His Grace.
In 2012, we were called back to Hong Kong and have since been called by the Lord to start up an internet church that is called The Little Church World (www.thelittlechurchworld.org). The Little Church replicates the approach we adopted in the UAE with our fellowship group which we and the others in the group found to be highly effective. Reference to this website will show that this is a very well developed internet church that provides worship music for adults and children, a family room that provides a weekly message generally given by me, and various rooms for related Christian activities. The purpose is to provide total support for anyone who, for whatever reason, is unable to attend a physical church and of course this is very relevant to the situation in the Middle East. In addition to the worship and the message, The Little Church World (TLC World) system provides house church, virtual church and house fellowship group leaders with a full transcript of the message, a summary of the message and questions for discussion based on the message. Consequently, home based churches, home fellowships and virtual groups have a complete set of resources to enable them to have a full service.
Given that I am responsible for preaching the weekly message and am leading the The Little Church World, although I have a PhD in Business and a Doctorate in Education (I am an academic remember!), I do not have any formal theological education. Of course, I read the Bible daily, do extensive research for my weekly messages and ensure I get spiritually fed from reading the works of Tozer etc., and from the sermons preached by the pastor of the Hong Kong Baptist Church (also my mentor), where I attend with my wife and where I am a deacon. Nevertheless, I have not had formal theological training and feel that I should have this, given the role I have in TLC World. For my entire walk with Christ in any leadership role, it has been on a bi-vocational basis and I am so pleased that Christian Leaders Institute (CLI) is providing on-line seminary training and the opportunity for ordination within one’s local context. As a long term academic, I can also fully vouch for the quality of education provided by CLI. I want to thank Henry and Dave and their team for the great, God-given job they are doing.
The Little Church is a resource that may be very helpful in your area. As a bi-vocational ministry, The Little Church may be something that you may find beneficial as well. Contact Jim Pounder if you are interested in The Little Church in your area. Click this link to the contact page of The Little Church and contact this ministry directly.
Bible College Free Online – Not Too Old For the Lord’s great work!
A Bible college free online is available for a large segment of the Christian population that senses the calling into ministry. Christian Leaders Institute is a Bible College free online that offers over 20 advanced classes. We have several award levels for called students who believe they need advanced ministry training. JoyeDell Beers enrolled at this Bible college online believing that she was not too old for the Lord’s great work. Here is her story.
My name is JoyeDell Beers. At age 50, I believe the Lord still has a great work for my life. I live in the USA where we are still free to worship God… for the time being! As other countries have Christians being persecuted for their faith, I feel our nation is not far from that same fate. With that in perspective, I, and many others, want a better place for our children, and grandchildren to grow and live; a nation that is truly “one nation under God.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
The area we live in is not what you would call a “thriving” city. The downfall of the economy has only made this already depressed area worse. I have seen a lot of people with no hope. They have lost jobs, homes, friends, family and spouses. They are filling the void in their lives with alcohol, drugs, gambling, and sex. There seems to be an overabundance of serious sickness in young people in their teens and twenties. This depressed area needs hope… the hope that only Jesus can give.
I accepted the Lord as my personal Savior at the tender age of 9, during summer church camp. I could not believe that someone could love me so much that He would die for me. Over 40 years later, that is still an incredible concept.
My faith has been tested many times in my lifetime; my life threatening illness and 23 day hospital stay as a child, a problem pregnancy, nearly losing our firstborn son to Juvenile Diabetes, begging God’s protection over our daughter at college, fighting breast cancer, depression, and skin cancer, waiting and praying over our youngest son in his hospital bed while he battled a hole in his lung, and the list could go on. No matter what, through it all, God has been in control. (Psalm 139:1-12) I may not have agreed with His wisdom, or His timing, but my faith has grown and deepened with every mountain climbed. I have looked out across the vastness of this wonderful creation called earth, and marveled at The Creator. I can personally testify to His bountiful blessings, unfailing love, matchless grace, and tender mercy. I have also fallen on my knees in utter defeat and despair when only the Holy Spirit could intercede for me (Romans 8:26), giving me comfort, strength and hope.
My dream is to reach out to the lost, searching souls in my community and point them toward Christ. I especially desire to lead a women’s ministry, connecting women to women, and women to God. (Titus 2:2-5) How? Through the Word of God in both the spoken word and song. My method is music. My conductor is God. I will make music praising and worshiping Him as long as He gives breath. (Psalm 150:6) I pray to bring the truth of the gospel so close to everyone I meet that they can smell the sweet fragrance of The Spirit, taste the richness of His Holy Word, and be filled with God’s great mercy, grace, forgiveness, love, and hope. I pray to speak and sing with the Holy Spirit’s evangelistic power, but also want to truly know the heart of each individual seeking Christ in order to properly minister to them.
My pastor is the one who encouraged me to become an ordained minister as it will provide more open doors and opportunities for outreach. I am presently the music director at two churches each Sunday, and praise team leader for Vision Ministries which reaches beyond the walls of the church building with the Good News of Jesus. There are only a handful of family and close friends who know I am studying to be an ordained minister. As far as the church body is concerned, I will tell them eventually!
Having 3 adult children, you learn a lot more about their lives and reflections. I learned that they still look to my husband and I as examples and for guidance. Our days of rearing children are long gone. Teaching them about the Lord, knowing right from wrong, how to be productive and respected members of society, and adults who take responsibility for their own lives and actions, took place years ago when they were still children. That being said, our children are not surprised that mom is seeking to be ordained. Since talking with others about the Lord is a both a privilege and our duty, I have included them in my speaking and singing engagements since they were toddlers. My husband of over 30 years thinks it’s a worthy goal. He is my sounding board and debating partner. He lovingly offers encouragement and great insight to God’s Word. They are all being quite supportive, especially since I haven’t been “in school” for a very long time!
As a teenager, I always thought I would be a missionary. I did start college, but never finished. I cannot afford formal college, nor do I have the time to take off work to “go” to classes. So achieving that dream can only be a reality through a scholarship at CLI, the availability of classes online, and flexibility of the study schedule. What better way to continue my education, than to be studying and growing in God’s Word! I will have that opportunity to be a missionary… right in my own backyard! I will confidently be able to follow the Lord’s direction being equipped with the tools and knowledge learned from the classes and staff at CLI.
Please pray for the outpouring of God’s Spirit, wisdom, and boldness to reach the lost for Christ. (John 7:37-38)
If you are interested in enrolling at this Bible College free online just click here. Like us on Facebook and read some more interesting stories of people enrolled at our Bible College Free Online here at Christian Leaders Institute.