the rise oftheGIANTS
Executive Summary
Greetings in the name of Jesus our soon coming King. This is now the second year of the Sons of Issachar conference and I have the honour of sharing it with you in a brief thought on the theme ‘the rise of the GIANTS’.
We note from the scriptures (Numbers 13) that the Israelite spies visually saw the land of milk and honey; they saw it was good. The Lord had already told them what was in store for them. However, once they had witnessed the goodness of the land, the majority took their eyes off God and fixed it on the perceived obstacles around them. The majority, came back with the spirit of ‘nevertheless’, which attracted doubt, fear and the loss of confidence. How many times in our spiritual walk with God have we allowed the things of this world to weaken our faith and resolve?
Something changed in the majority, because now they could only focus on the ‘Giants’ that were there before them and not in the fact that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who had done such great and marvellous things for his people, would never let them down. How could a feeble grasshopper, challenge and confront the might of a Giant?
The saddest part of this story is that just as it was in the days of old, so it is today, we may have may have already been a part of a great move of God, yet in spite of this; some still lose hope and confidence when faced with new situations and opposition.
The Bible is clear about what awaits usif we dare to face the challenges with God on our side and endure to the end. Why do we, when faced with opposition, begin to believe that the vision and indeed promise seems impossible to reach? But how can this be if God has predestined where he wants us to be? In Acts 16: 6 - 10 Paul had his own idea of where he wanted to go but the Holy Ghost forbade him to go and preach the word in Asia. He then in vs. 9 had a vision of a man in Macedonia ‘saying, come over into Macedonia, and help us’. Immediately they went with confidence that the Lord had surely called them for that missionary journey.
Responding to the call will mean that you too have that ‘giant’ potential to arise in this season. The Apostolic church must arise in her greatness. This ‘Giant’ of spiritual leadership, influence and impartation must arise to become the luminary that exposes the difference between light and darkness.
Finally, I pray that your encounter with the Lord at this meeting will enable you to arise and take your place among the giants that God has positioned for purpose.
PresidingBishop S A Dunn.
Bethel Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ.
Conference Welcome
Praise the Lord men of God. It gives me great pleasure to have been asked once again to share my thoughts regarding this great topic; the rise of the GIANTS. I wrote in my address last year that, ‘God is looking for exemplary men like our Bishop to be willing and able to stand for what is right’, I pray this is the case. I attended the first conference in 2015 and came away realising that our men are seeking every opportunity to be the best they can be in God. I noticed a genuine desire and hunger from our young men to draw closer to God and pray for you continually.
I know that this year theme has been birthed out of prayer & fasting. As men, we must stand strong for God by making every effort to stay focused and resilient when all around us appears to be sinking sand.
God told Adam that he was a ‘dominion man’. He spoke to Abraham and confirmed that the blessing for us would come through him and that in Christ we will have ever lasting life. We have no excuse but to stand up and be counted in these last and closing days of time. Beloved, it’s only what we do for Christ will last.
Finally, let us come together, work together, support each other and arise to become the GIANT that God wants us to be.
Pastor Eric Bailey
Central District Overseer
Preamble
Men are always to pray and not faint.
The season is now upon us where we need to reassess and re-evaluate where we are going and where we need to be and by when. In 2015, the Lord raised the theme, the Sons of Issachar, which provoke men to consider the times that we are living in. How can we know the seasons that we are in, if as men, we lack understanding of the times and as such are unable to move in line and in time with God?
There are many barriers, pitfalls and obstacles that prevent us as men of God from reaching our potential and as such continue to live below our privileges. The question begs, what is it that causes the men of God to doubt the word of God and the transforming power of the word.
Paul wrote, ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me....’ Notwithstanding this, somehow we have learnt to internalise the negative experiences from our past, which in turn has reinforced the doubt we sometimesharbour and as a consequence we find it hard to be an overcomer gaining those spiritual heights that God intends for us.
The Bible declares in Romans 12:2;
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”.
Let’s briefly consider the text Numbers13: 2-33, because this will set the backdrop to the three workshops. Here we will focus on the challenges that the spies faced and the reasons why the majority returned with a somewhat negative report. The question begs, why did their observations lead to them to believe that these were insurmountable obstacles. In addition, what caused them to develop a mind-set that eventually shaped their decision making (hence they saw failure before they even attempted to overcome). And last of all, one of the workshops will consider, why Moses changed Hoshea name to Joshua (Num. 13:16), looking at this in relation to Godly impartation.
It is interesting to note (Numbers 13: 27 & 28)the first few sentences of the report read very well indeed. Then, there came the, 'nevertheless ...... the size of the people ...the perceived issue.... the problem... the hurdle... the assignment, is all too much for us. What could have caused such a shift in thinking?
Why was it that none of the spies cognisant of the word spoken in Deuteronomy 1: 8, which remind us that God had already promised them Canaan?
What caused the majority of these appointed leaders who were under the 'covering' of Moses, to become so fearful;
- Despite God's faithful promises, they said, ‘the people who dwell in the land are strong’.
- Despite God's faithful promise, they said, ‘the cities are fortified and very large’.
- Despite God's faithful promise, they said, ‘we saw the descendants of Anak [a tribe of large men] there’.
- Despite God's faithful promise, they said, ‘Amalekites dwell . . . the Amorites dwell . . . the Canaanites dwell’ - all the land is taken up, there are no vacancies!
What changed the men’s heart and perception? Surely, the answer was in the many miracles God had already performed and that he had promised them this land?
The reconnaissance mission took forty days. When God takes us through a process there is a significance in numbers and in this case it represented a period of trial.
Finally, what will it take for the men of God to have the mind of an overcomer; what needs to happen to equip our men to understand that in Christ we can do all things and how can the aged men who are converted help to strengthen the brethren’s?
Testimonies
Brother Israel – having a renewed mind (change)
“Praise the Lord my brothers in Jesus name. I was asked to share my experience of the change from the old man to the new man in Christ that I have gone through.
I was an addict who smoked weed and cigarettes practically every day from the age of 17 until 27. I was addicted and wanted desperately to stop as I never in all that time saw myself as a smoker which I clearly was. I was a University drop out and since I can say that I never worked in a role that I saw as a career or something that I wanted to do long term.I was now getting to an age where I had not had a lot to show for my life and I was ashamed. This led me to stop talking to my friends and family because I felt that I had to achieve success and overcome my shortcomings before I would be able to deal with this shame. This made depressed, I just felt sorry for myself and couldn't see anyway out.
Then I had experience with Jesus and I would love to tell you that I made the conscious decision to come back to God but I would be lying. God came to me when I was lost and at my lowest. Honestly I don't want to sound cliché but he opened my eyes and showed me love when I couldn't love myself and I truly fell in love with God because he loved me first. In a moment of finding Jesus I went from being ashamed of all the things that I went through and had done to knowing that they were necessary for me to see Jesus and I wouldn't change the circumstances leading up to this point for the world.
When God found me, almost instantly things began to change in my life, I stopped a habit of 10 years and I was delivered from smoking. With this Jesus has began a work in me that I couldn't have started myself and is dealing with things that I thought I would die with, but for the grace and Love of God.
So I definitely not going to say to you that my life is now perfect, but what I have now is that I know I am a child of God. My desire and hope is in Jesus and I long to see his face. So now, I know that no matter how boisterous and contentious the storms become I have Jesus and he is beautiful and dwarfs any and every situation that I come against and has prepared me because he knew me before I was in my mother's womb and knew my beginning and end. And because he loves me so much he equipped me with all the tools that I need to live the life he put before me.
So the difference between the old man and the new man is that I know I have Jesus. God Bless all of you my brothers in Jesus name.”
Deacon Hall – a father’s perspective (impartation).
“I started to take my wife and children to church, leaving them there and when church was over I would go and pick them up. As a bus driver I was always out on the road, but at nights at home. I could hear my wife praying, asking God to have mercy on her husband. I always listened and admired how my wife could pray. One day I went to work and I tried praying asking God to help me. I realisedthat things started getting better, so it thenbecame a regular thing for me to pray. One day when I took the family to church I decided to stay until church finished. I enjoyed it very much so I kept on going. On that day while I was there listening to the preacher. I heard a voice saying "today" so I got up out of my seat and went straight to the alter and asked if I could be baptised. I then asked the Lord to forgive me of all my sins. I was baptised and my wife was so happy. I continue going to church and while on the bus. I was telling others about the man that took all my burdens and sins away. My God has done so much for me and I now share my experiences of knowing the Lord with young men in the church.
My aim and my desire is to continue serving him and encouraging young men to serve the Lord as he said in his Word “and it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions" (Joel 2:28). My encouragement to the young men in the church is to trust in the Lord.
Workshop 1: Overcoming Obstacles
Obstacles can be anything that stands in our way of reaching our goals, having success, or being what God want us to be. Great faith endures great trials. Each day comes with its share of struggles and difficulties and every small victory becomes seed to grow our faith. Whether we are touched by sickness, death, divorce or unemployment we need grace to endure. But during trying times we learn who we really are and more importantly, we learn about God‘s faithfulness. So, what could have caused the differing report given that the land was already promised to them? (Deuteronomy. 1:8)
The sad truth is the Promised Land was only about 200-250 miles from Egypt. Even if they would have averaged a mile a day, they should have made the trip in about 8 months.
The group will explore how best to confront and dismantle the challenges standing between us and our successes using Biblical examples and principles.
Workshop 2: The changed man (paradigm shift)
The task appeared to be quite straight forward for men who were chosen for their leadership skills. However, could the problem of the negative report have been caused because it was the people that generated the idea to search the land? (Deuteronomy. 1:20-23). God agreed to it and told them to "spy out the land" and see how the people lived, how strong they were, and what the land looked like. After forty days, the spies returned and admitted Canaan was a wonderful land, but expressed doubt they could conquer these strong people. Two of the spies, Caleb and Joshua, objected and said, "we are well able" to take the land. The majority prevailed and Israel wandered in the wilderness another 38 years while an entire generation died.
What can we learn from this? Paul wrote: "Now all these things happened unto them for examples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come" (1 Corinthians. 10:11 & Romans. 13:4).
The outlook of the ten spies was one of doom and gloom, they allowed the situation to appear insurmountable, yet, they served an almighty God. Yet, the remnant 'Caleb and Joshua' saw the possibilities instead of the problems, God instead of giants and victory instead of defeat. God said Caleb "had a different spirit" (Numbers 14:24). Yes, it was different from the ten spies because it was positive instead of negative. To do this, we need to have 'the mind of Christ', which means we need to develop our men to be able to make the changes in our lives and subsequent behaviours that will help us tomake this paradigm shift. Consider this, 603,550 men of war started the journey to the Promised Land(Numbers 3:32), yet only two entered into Canaan; you can do the maths, yes, 603,548 fell in the wilderness; don’t let it happen to you.
Workshop 3 – Godly Impartation
The Greek word for ‘impartation’ is “metadidomi”, meaning, ‘to give over, i.e. share, give, input (Strong) – ‘to give share off’ (Young). Therefore, it is to transmit, pass on, confer and transfer.
Ways to impart:
- From God Himself. Moses told to gather the 70 elders (Numbers 11: 16-25). The impartation enabled them to take on greater responsibility to support Moses.
- Moses called out Joshua and blessed him (did it provoke jealously in the others?).
- By anointed laying of hands. The Apostle Paul had the heart to help others to rise in effective ministry (Romans 1: 11-12).
This workshop is for the mature men who have the mind and heart to transfer a blessing and an anointing into the lives of our young men, thus playing an active part in their spiritual and natural development.
2015 conference feedback:
Workshop 3: Making sense of prophetical word spoken over my life.
From Pastor Delton Parkes & Pastor Bunny Campbell teaching I learned that there are two words people can speak over your life, either a blessing or unfortunately a curse. But only you can make it true. You can pursue the blessing and make it reality or not take any notice of it and just look past it. It’s the same with a curse, you can listen to it and have the thought follow you or you can break the curse. I chose to make it reality.
The teachings continued by saying that to make sense of prophetic words spoken over your life you must embrace it and most importantly believe it. I’ve personally heard words spoken over my life by more than one source and to me it sounds like shoes I can’t fill. The words I’ve heard have had me thinking are you sure? Because surely someone like me can’t amount to even half of what some of the brethren think.