Reforming the way we think

by Apostle André Pelser

Preached Sunday 3rd July 2011 at Harvester Reformational Church Cape Town

As a man thinks in his heart so is he. If we want to change we need to change the way we think first. Then our words and our actions will follow suit. To redesign our mentality is not easy. We have to bombard our sensibilities with fresh truth in order to change position.

Apostolic preaching and teaching has the authority to reform. Apostles uncover the deeper meanings in Scripture as it is revealed to them. They are in tune with what God is saying to the church today. They can break the seals of the sealed mysteries of God and make it plain to the people. (Daniel 12:8-10) They decode the visions of God.

They preach the unsearchable riches of God to reveal the fellowship in the mystery of God. (Ephesians 3:8-10)

Paul says he was given a certain grace from a divine source to preach the mysteries of God. It was sovereignly given to him, and not asked for.

In order to live a proper Christian life we need to tap into this apostolic grace.

For instance, Stephen, the first Christian martyr had a mother. She had to listen to Paul and read his letters. She had to hear him say, ‘I have harmed no man’. She needed grace to accept the man that approved of her son’s stoning. Without grace it is impossible to forgive and forget. Grace takes you beyond your personal prejudices. It takes you beyond racial prejudice. It takes you beyond your hurts and failures. It takes you into a place where you are safe and secure.

I once asked the Lord for a picture of grace. Then I saw a man stooping down to pick up a little boy with outstretched arms. As he lifted him up I understood grace. It lifts you up where you belong: in the arms of your heavenly Father.

The preaching of the unsearchable riches is like uncovering the footprints of God. He left His footprints behind in the earth in His dealings with Abraham, Moses, David and other men and women of God. Jesus came to uncover those footprints for us.

Nola and I love to walk on Sunset Beach, where we live. You see your own footprints for a while and when you return the waves have washed them away. They have disappeared. You know they were there a moment ago, but now they are gone.  It is the same with the dealings of God with man. He showed us His ways, and then the waves of time washed those footprints away. Paul says, I can show you where those footprints are! He can show us the present emphasis of God.

The Bible is God’s treasure map to His rich deposits in the earth.

The wisdom of God’s Genius is revealed through the church. The New Testament Church is ascending beyond the comprehension of the world. We are a step ahead. We should not follow worldly trends in the church. The world should follow our lead! We pioneer new positions in the spirit realm and the world wonders where we get our wisdom.

We change the structure of things to contain new blessings. New wine requires new wineskins.

One church can bless nations! How is this possible? It is the Genius of God at work.

We have relocated centres of truth. We no longer look the earthly Jerusalem who represents the bond woman, Hagar, but we have shifted our focus to the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Church of the First Born, and Mount Zion in the spirit realm, that refers to Sarah the woman of Promise.

We no longer measure success by what we see and are no longer moved with the outward impressiveness of things, because we have found an inner reality that operates by faith.

We reform stale ministries and introduce a new season of refreshing to them by the presence of the Lord. Principles of Reform are as real as the laws of Gravity.

When you come in touch with the apostolic ministry, it affects you, one way or another. It is like sticking your fingers into an electric socket: power is released!

Many pastors are tired, exhausted, worn out; they get heart attacks at an early age because the systems they serve have depleted their strength. Serving a system of church growth makes people slaves of a system. The Lord Jesus builds a church and His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He adds people to the church that will be a blessing not a burden.

The old way of doing things in churches have become obsolete. The Lord is doing a new thing. We have to change our thinking accordingly in order to enjoy the blessings.

When the burden gets too heavy discontent and frustration sets in. The joy of the Lord is no longer there.

When we have reached the limitation of the old systems we have to renew our minds to what God is doing today. We need to call the old obsolete in order to embrace the new.

21^st Century kids live outside the boundaries of their own lives. Churches have to offer something different in order to keep them interested. God loves them and cares for them, but they have to know that God is interested in their generation as well.

Moses was a great man, and yet his system came to an end. It had to go. It had to make way for something new.

The Latin chants in the Medieval Churches had to make way for Luther’s hymns. He often took worldly tunes and wrote Christian words for them.

Guttenberg printed Luther’s sermons and the Bible in German. All of a sudden people could read the Bible! Before that only the priests read the Bible in Latin and no one understood what he said!

John the Baptist came to prepare the way for the Lord. People who accepted his reforms were ready to receive Jesus