Empowerment

Empowerment: Notes on sermon by Pastor Chew, SIB

(I just listened to the tape two days ago and was especially encouraged by the point on Malachi 4, which was the very chapter preached by Pastor Micky on Sunday, which once again affirmed the reality of God in the series of “God-incidences” as Janan puts it, that have happened since camp)

One of the key decision makers of the Nixon leadership explained that one of their main failures resulting in the Vietnam debacle was wrong assumptions.

In the church today, one of the major wrong assumptions is that great sermons every Sunday will guarantee a successful church. However, this is wrong as a church full of sermon junkies will only grow fat, full of head knowledge, but have no impact on the community. Some Christians go to church for 10 years and they are still immature.

We are still immature if our primary concern is always on ourselves. What can I get out of the sermon? What can I get out of the Pastor? What can I get out of the church?

In SIB, the leadership does not want to grow a fat church but a strong church, and one of the key foundations to build a strong church is empowerment! And the whole Scripture is full of examples of this concept, from Moses to David to Paul.

Empowering stems from the heart of a spiritual father, a desire for another to improve, become as good, and even better than himself.

In Numbers, when Moses knew he would no longer enter the promised land, he asked God to appoint a new leader to lead the people. His heart was not on himself but on his sheep. The Lord asked Moses to give some of his power and responsibility to Joshua. Once the people saw this, they would associate the leadership with Joshua, and in all their presence, Moses commissioned Joshua by laying hands on him, and Joshua led the people to the promised land!

When Gideon was approached by the angel of the Lord, he was greeted “Mighty Warrior”, even when he saw himself as nothing. The Lord empowered him. When Moses felt inferior to his task, the Lord empowered him. Throw your staff and it turned into a snake. Moses couldn’t speak well –God sent Aaron. There was empowering each step of the way.

Every time we see David and Solomon in Scripture, he is empowering his son. Who taught Solomon to ask for wisdom? David! David said “May the Lord grant you wisdom and knowledge to build this temple!” The Davidic model of leadership was steeped in empowerment all the way. See how many mighty men rose from David’s ranks.

In contrast Saul wanted to keep all the power to himself, and became jealous of David. The mentor became the tormentor. Such an attitude can only lead to destruction.

In Malachi 4, the books ends with a prophecy that the Lord will sent Elijah to turn the hearts of the father to their children and the children to their father or He will come and strike the land with a curse. This verse is often used in family seminars, promoting unity in the family. However, in the world today, it is sadly not the case, where in so many families, the father is not present, and children do not respect the father.

However, there is another spiritual teaching in this prophecy that God revealed to Pastor Chew four years earlier.

In Matthew 17, the disciples asked Jesus what this verse meant (Why do the teachers say that Elijah must come first). Jesus replied, Elijah comes and will restore all things, but I tell you, Elijah has already come and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. The latter verse clearly referred to John the Baptist, but what does the first verse mean? Who is the other Elijah.

Elijah is a compound word made up of El and Yah. El refers to God, and is used in several of God’s names - El-Elohim,El-Shaddai, El-Elyon,etc. Yah is short for Yahweh. Hence Elijah essentially means, the Lord God Almighty. Hence, the prophecy refers to the Spirit of God coming and turning the hearts of the spiritual fathers to their spiritual children and the spiritual children to their spiritual fathers.

From Pastor Chew’s understanding, the whole concept of empowering is hence, prophetically crucial to the movement of the church in the end times!

How do we empower others? Give them responsibility, guide them, encourage them, pray for them, pray with them.

How do we get empowered? Position ourselves in such a way – be active in cell groups, attend special trainings, be involved in different ministries, listen to older Christians.

To be truly empowered, we need the hunger of Elisha, who had to chase after Elijah all the way to receive the double portion of his spirit. Elijah tested him several times, but he refused to give up.

God bless,

Jason