Tough as Nails: Why a Pioneering Church Gets Attacked

Sermon outline

Leaders in a pioneering church must see everything through the word, guard the ground they gain, keep peace at home and stay tough and submitted, because a church that takes territory will be attacked and will still win.

1. Don't miss a meeting: consistency keeps the ground you gain

   Busy working leaders often get their only real measure of the word in church, so they cannot afford to miss a meeting. He draws an analogy from the priests who were disqualified in the Old Testament: a limp pictures an inconsistent walk with God, and impaired sight pictures blurred vision, both of which bring bursts of progress followed by a fall back to ground zero. When you gain spiritual ground you must look after it, because ground lost is twice as hard to regain, and as co-labourers God gains ground only through you.

   “When you gain ground, it is your job to look after the ground.”

   • Leviticus 21:17-21
   • 1 Corinthians 3:9

2. See everything through the word

   Only a person born of a woman has legal authority on the earth, which is why Jesus came through Mary, and believers are born again by the word with eternal life inside. The great hindrance to expressing that life outwardly is an unrenewed mind, which makes leaders say 'I don't feel like going.' Like his spectacles, the word must be the lens for how a leader thinks, ministers and relates to people; God is cheering them on, and the One inside is bigger than the pressure.

   Illustration: He takes off his glasses: if these spectacles were the word of God, a spiritual leader must look at everything through them.

   “As a spiritual leader, you have to watch everything through the word.”

   • Luke 1:35
   • 1 Peter 1:23
   • 1 Thessalonians 5:23
   • Hebrews 13:5
   • 1 John 4:4

3. Be part of the solution

   As the work grows, the pressure on the pastor grows: he ministers, administrates, reports to others and represents the whole church like an ambassador, so the credit is shared by all. Leaders must not make his job harder. If they bleed, they must put on a plaster and keep moving, because they are strong, tough people who are bigger than their challenges.

   Illustration: The thought came to him while driving, and he asked Pastor Zubeda to write it down: 'If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.'

   “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.”

4. Peace at home and good manners in the house of God

   Christian leaders must have peace at home, because a leader who cannot take charge of his own home cannot take care of the house of God. True submission is choosing to submit when you do not agree, while husbands must love their wives and never treat them as punching bags; constant fighting hinders prayers, so settle disagreements before bed and do not make divorce an option, since people everywhere come with baggage. He tells leaders to stop screaming, watch their tone of voice and speak to people with good manners, calling a visitor 'sir' and asking politely.

   Illustration: He and his wife used to answer anger with anger until he saw there was no wisdom in it; now he calms down and shows her from the word.

   “If you cannot take charge of your own marriage and have rule over your own home, how can you take care of the house of God?”

   • Ephesians 5:22-25
   • 1 Peter 3:7
   • Ephesians 4:26
   • 1 Timothy 3:5

5. The office of a pastor is a sacred trust

   Leaders who want to court someone in the church should be open about it with their cell leader and a pastor, because the church must protect the flock. A leader becomes known only because a senior leader gives him a platform, and the pastor's office is not a manager's job but a divine appointment. Not even Jesus could change Judas, which shows that how a person plays the game is left to them, and anyone who does not play by the rules disqualifies himself.

   Illustration: He kept one job for twenty years, straight from school, before going into the church, so they can trust that he is stable.

   “The office of a pastor is a sacred trust. It's a divine appointment by God.”

   • John 13:27
   • 2 Timothy 2:5

6. A pioneering church will be attacked

   A maintenance church only keeps its members happy, but a pioneering church is on the front line taking territory by prayer, prophecy and the word, so the devil must fight it. Because Satan is the prince of the power of the air, radio, television, newspapers and books invade his territory, which is why attacks rise when the gospel goes out. He has been attacked as never before while writing his book on the name of Jesus, yet Hindu families are now phoning to ask to be led to the Lord, so leaders must not think it strange but resist the devil.

   Illustration: Driving to the church in Avoca, the left side of his face went numb; he preached anyway, God's power came on him halfway through the service, and a condition the doctor said would take six months was gone in six days.

   “Every war has casualties.”

   • Ephesians 2:2
   • 2 Timothy 1:7
   • James 4:7
   • 1 Peter 5:8

7. Tough as nails: your level of submission is your level of authority

   Leaders must be tough, because God cannot use the weak; David looked at Goliath and was not moved. If you have to come to church limping, come, and make up your mind that the devil will not devour you. Spiritual authority does not come from how well you preach but from how well you are submitted. As in the police, fighting bigger fights earns stripes and stars, so let the devils say of each leader what they said of Paul: 'Paul I know.'

   Illustration: On the morning his elder brother died he still preached, held a leaders' meeting and conducted a wedding before going to the funeral. Rank in the spirit is like stripes, then stars, castles and sword and baton.

   “Your level of submission will be your level of authority in the spiritual level.”

   • 1 Samuel 17
   • James 4:7
   • Acts 19:13-16
   • 1 Corinthians 15:58
   • John 8:44

8. Prophecy and impartation: get ready to be very busy

   As the spirit of prophecy comes on him he calls up the branch pastors and leaders, business people, government workers and professionals in turn and releases an anointing for prosperity, increase, wisdom and favour, prophesying that contracts will come and that what they struggled for they will not struggle for anymore. He teaches that Naaman's healing was not in the water but in the word of the man of God, that you must pray under the anointing and not before it, and that when they prophesy they have gone beyond praying and are throwing spears to take territory.

   Illustration: Naaman wanted the prophet to come out and lay hands on him; he was healed only when he dipped seven times as the prophet's word said.

   “We're not praying. We've gone beyond praying. We are prophesying in the atmosphere.”

   • Genesis 41:41
   • Exodus 18:21
   • Esther 4:14
   • Zechariah 4:6
   • 2 Kings 5:1-14
   • Deuteronomy 8:18
   • Joel 2:25
   • Romans 8:35
   • Isaiah 54:17
   • Psalm 91:7
   • 1 John 4:4
   • Romans 8:1

9. Covering the ministry, the families and the nation

   He prays for the wider ministry and its leaders, the church's television and radio programmes and books, every branch church and home cell, the pastors, ushers, deacons and security team, and covers every family with the blood of Jesus. He prophesies souls coming from every background, signs and wonders following, and prays for the president, ministers, police, army, air force and prison service, declaring that crime will decrease, the ports are safe, the power of pornography and drugs is broken and South Africa is a blessed, God-fearing country.

   “I declare South Africa is a blessed country.”

   • Mark 16:17-18
   • Ephesians 6:10
   • Isaiah 54:17
   • Deuteronomy 28:13
   • Psalm 141:2
   • Romans 8:31

10. Choose to be glad and look through the word

    He has the people tell each other that they choose to rejoice, because choice is strong and nothing can stop someone who chooses to be glad. People may come in sad, weak or worried and leave glad, strong and with God's wisdom, because with the spirit of success inside they are failure proof. It matters where you go and who you associate with, since anointing and blessing come by association, so stay where God has placed you and cast your cares on Him.

    Illustration: Lot's choice to separate from Abraham was the beginning of his harm.

    “You may have come in sad, but you will leave this place glad.”

    • Nehemiah 8:10
    • Joel 3:10
    • Genesis 13:11
    • Philippians 4:6
    • 1 Peter 5:7