SERVE YOUR OWN GENERATION

Andre Pelser

August 2013

‘David served his own generation according to the will of God.’ (Acts 13:36) We need to know the requirements to serve our own generation according to the will of God.

How my Family served their own generations

The Pelser family has served God in the Church for four generations in succession. The period spans 100 years now. Both my grandparents were preachers. My grandfather was a sniper in the Anglo-Boer War that won a medal for bravery and he became a healing evangelist (Afrikaans: ‘sieketrooster’)after his miraculous conversion to Christianity. God used him for healings and miracles. He only had a grade 6 education and could not read the Bible properly. When he read it publically he would skip the words that were difficult to pronounce and just say ‘difficult word’ and read on. No one in the congregation thought it strange because many of them were also uneducated. Yet he had amazing results in his ministry and saw people saved and healed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

My grandfather on my mother’s side built 18 churches and started his own Pentecostal denomination that he eventually handed over to my uncle who was also in the full time ministry for most of his life as president of that denomination. My grandmother’s brother-in-law was also a full time minister.

My father was a pastor in the Apostolic Faith Mission for 22 years until his retirement. He served on the Executive Board for many years as chairman of the Western Cape District and also served on the board for church laws. God used him to build up assemblies that were failing and he physically built parsonages and church buildings for the AFM because he was a house-builder and estate agent by trade after he left the Air Force after WWII.

How we fulfilled our own calling

I have been in full time ministry since 1971 doing a few odd jobs in between to keep the pot cooking! Nola has been with me in ministry most of our married life that spans 37 years this year. Aje & Chantal have been in full time ministry with us since they completed their studies at Miracle Bible College. They are the fourth generation of the Pelser family that served God and humanity.

As a young man during the Hippie Era I held Jesus Festivals in Town Halls where I booked church bands to come and perform and then we shared the Gospel with the crowd and hundreds upon hundreds of souls were saved. I produced Gospel Musicals and plays in Theatres that attracted the crowds to hear and see the Gospel on stage. We performed ‘Rabboni’ about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and ‘The Christmas Story’ with new Christmas Carols that I composed for our generation and saw many accept Christ. We performed the Bob Dylan show, ‘Forever Young’ depicting how the folk and rock singer got saved; I performed the life of John G Lake, a miracle working missionary that founded the AFM in South Africa on stage and filmed it. In Australia and South Africa we produced ‘The Prisoners’ a musical about Paul and Silas in Prison as recorded in Acts 16. Aje and Yve produced ‘The Good News’ that is still being performed in Theatres today. We made many LP’s, cassettes and CD’s recording our brand of Gospel Music; we have filmed many DVD’s where we prophetically act out the Word of God while preaching.

Besides that Nola and I have preached in hundreds and hundreds of churches around the world and trained thousands of pastors in over 100 nations. We have been involved in 58 church plants but only pastored 4 churches. We had a TV program on Channel 9 in Brisbane, Australia; We held 56 Concert Campaigns throughout Australia in 18 months, almost a concert every two weeks; Nola was the presenter of a Religious Program called, ‘Kruis & Kroniek’ in South Africa for 5 years; we printed and distributed thousands of magazines throughout the world and thousands of newspapers in South Africa publishing the Good News; I wrote and published many books and manuals that are still being used today. We have a website that meets the need of many people and we never charge anything to download our messages or our worship in church. We have labored for the Gospel’s sake to the point of physical exhaustion and suffered many things for the sake of Jesus Christ.

What people do not understand is that the calling of God is without repentance. The calling of God is more powerful than anything else you can imagine. It is stronger than selfish ambition and stronger than all the world has to offer. When God calls someone it affects an entire family. Some of them do not even understand it and fight against the one God calls. Jesus said, ‘they hated me without a cause.’ Jesus’ own family fought against Him and said he is mad!

When God calls you and you answer the call, you literally lay down your life for the cause of Christ. There is no turning back when you put your hand to the plow. There is no looking back. You have to look straight ahead and keep your eye on Jesus all the time.

Each generation needs people to serve them according to the will of God.

How David served his own generation

Acts 13:36-39

³⁶ For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: ³⁷ But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. ³⁸ Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: ³⁹ And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. ^[1]

 

David served his generation according to the will of God and was buried. Jesus served His generation according to the will of God and brought justification through faith in Him for all generations to come. He did what the Law of Moses could not accomplish. It was a different level of serving God. It brought permanent change into the world.

David’s generation was oppressed by the Philistines and his brothers fought in Saul’s army. They were facing giants. One of the giants was called Goliath. He mocked the soldiers of Israel taunting them every day. He challenged them to send their champion to fight against him. If Goliath wins then Israel will be slaves of the Philistines. If the Israeli soldier wins the Philistines would serve Israel. But there was no one who was willing to fight the giant. David was sent by his father Jesse to take some provision to his brothers at the front lines. When he arrived he heard the taunts of the giant.

‘Who is this uncircumcised Philistine to mock the armies of the Living God like that?’ David enquired.

His own brothers rebuked him and told him to go home. They said he just wants to promote himself by saying that. But someone overheard him and told King Saul there is a man that is willing to fight the giant. David was brought before Saul and Saul thought he was not fit to fight a giant because he is simply a youth. But David insisted and told Saul that he killed a lion and a bear with his bare hands when they attacked the flocks of sheep his was shepherding. So Saul put his suit of metal armor on David and gave him his sword and shield. But David could hardly move in the gear because he was not used to it. So he took it off and approached the giant with his sling-shot.

The giant despised David and said, ‘do you think I am a dog that you come to me with a shepherd’s staff?’ But David was full of faith and courage and told the giant: ‘You come against me with a sword and a shield, but today the Lord will give you into my hands so that the world may know there is a God in heaven! I will cut off your head with your own spear and give your carcass to the birds of the air!’

He picked up five smooth stones and put them in his shepherd’s bag. Then he took aim at the opening in the helmet right in the forehead of the giant and let go with his sling-shot. The stone sunk into the giant’s forehead and he slumped down to the ground. David took the giant’s sword and cut off his head. When he held his head high the army of Israel rejoiced and slaughtered the Philistines.

This was the first victory David won over the Philistines. There would be many other battles to fight. David was a man of war. But he was also a Psalmist. He wrote many psalms and developed musicians to praise and worship God. He taught Israel how to worship. He divided the musicians in their families to take turns in leading worship. He taught them to sing known songs and spiritual songs that came spontaneously. God was pleased with the ‘tabernacle of David’. He called David a man after his own heart.

Although David failed and committed both adultery and murder, God forgave him when he repented, and made a covenant with him that someone in his line will always be on the throne serving God. David was moved and said, ‘who am I Lord that you would even think of me and my generations to come?’

He served God according to the will of God for his own generation and then died and was buried.

How to serve today’s generation

We need to realize that God needs someone in every generation to serve that generation according to the will of God. Today’s generation is completely different from yesterday’s generation.

If my grandfather was alive today and had to read the Bible and say, ‘difficult word’ for every word he could not pronounce, people will laugh at him and not listen to what he has to say. My father’s generation was a post WWII generation that required healing and stability. My generation was the ‘60’s generation that broke away from the corporate world and promoted individuality.

Today’s generation is the Me-generation they call the Millennials. They are mostly teens and 20-somethings known for constantly taking pictures of themselves and posting them online. They are narcissistic, over-confident, feel themselves entitled to whatever they want, and lazy. They are 100% self-centered. How do you minister to this generation?

They are materialistic, self-obsessed, addicted to technology (no one can go without a cell phone for a day!) and life does not satisfy them. They are anti-social, anti-intellectual, anti-historical and anti eloquence. Their self-involvement makes no room for sympathy for others. Their self development is stunted because of the absorption with the fast changing technology. They live life through the screen of a cell phone or computer. They check their phones every hour and send 88 texts per day, every day. They lack face to face time with people and find it difficult to communicate or to concentrate without checking their cell phones. They experience phantom pocket-vibration syndrome. They do behaviors to deduce their anxiety. Although they appear to be calm on the surface they are full of anxieties. They are scared to miss something on the internet or on UTube or Twitter or Instagram or PlaceMe or on FitBit. (Time, May 20, 2013, p.28-35)

How to reach this Millenial generation

God has to raise up men and women today to serve their own generation according to the will of God. Today’s generation needs someone who understands them and knows how to reach them.

In order to understand today’s generation we have to know what made them the way they are and secondly what do they need most.

Mike and the Mechanics released a hit song ‘In the Living Years’ in 1989 and the first line is: ‘Every generation blames the one before.’ The constant misunderstanding between generations seems to be a problem that no-one can solve. It remains an enigma that there is just no remedy for.

What does God’s word tell us about that problem? What did Jesus tell His disciples to do about it? If we examine these things we will see the requirements necessary to reach today’s generation with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the eternal Gospel that has not changed since before the creation of the universe! It is eternal and it is comparable to every generation!

What made the Millenials what they are, is all the technology that fed them and parents that doted on them to build self-esteem.  They grew up watching reality TV and now each one has their own reality show on their iPods and cell phones – they post photographs of themselves all the time. A one year old baby has more images of himself than a King in the 17^th Century!

How to understand today’s generation

It used to be so boring when you visit people in the ‘60’s and they offer to let you watch the slides they took on holiday! But today’s generation shares hundreds of photos about their ordinary life to whoever wants to view.

They check their cell phones during class whether it is Algebra or History and strive for early self-realization in life. They no longer want to go to an intense boot camp and then off to war, they think of what they are going to do before they do it.

Millenials are generally positive and nice and more accepting of differences. They are not rebellious. They eat cereal any time of day and at home walk around in sweat pants rather than clothes. They are very cautious about life decisions and they challenge convention. They embrace the techno systems are their international culture. They have no leaders. They befriend celebrities by texting them and receiving responses but do not necessarily idolize them. The techno generation finds it hard to go to church because they do not identify with large institutions. They want new experiences rather than material goods and go for extreme sports for thrills. They are cool and reserved and not so passionate as previous generations. They don’t do something because it is their ‘passion’ but because they simply want to give it a try. They are financially responsible and like to stay at home and use their parent’s credit cards instead. They have a massive fear on missing out on anything that is happening. They want to stay in touch. And yet, staying in touch is merely on a cell phone and not in reality.

How to meet the needs of today’s generation

They need love, more than anything else. They need to know that parents love them. They need to discover God loves them. They need to be embraced and they need touch love, not merely texts.

They need to hear the message of the Gospel to their own generation: that God loved this generation so much that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life! (John 3:16)

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God is just as relative in this generation as it was in the previous generations because it is the Eternal Gospel. It is not limited to an age like most atheists and journalists like to admit. The age of Christianity did not come and go. It is here to stay! Jesus Christ is just as real today as He was ages ago! True Christianity is not outdated or outmoded, it has not become obsolete; it is vibrant and alive! The Word of God speaks loudly and clearly today to this generation and that is what they need to hear.

They need to see how the Word of God becomes flesh and how people live it out. They want to see the manifestation of the sons and daughters of a living God.

How to volunteer for the new commission

Who is going to tell them? Who is going to reach out to them? Who is going to be the one God can trust with this mission to reach today’s generation? Who will go into the whole world and preach the Gospel and make disciples like Jesus commissioned us to do? Who will go? God is looking for volunteers in this generation who will lay down their lives for Christ and the Gospel’s sake and say, ‘Here am I Lord, send me!’

God will use such volunteers for His glory. He will equip them and give them spiritual gifts to use to confirm that the Word of God is true with signs and wonders following. He will guide them, provide for them and open doors where no man can shut them again. God is calling a new army of volunteers for the work of the ministry in this generation!

It is the greatest honor to serve the Great King of kings and Lord of Lords! He promised to be with you if you go. He will never leave or forsake you. He will be with you everywhere you go!

Who is ready for this great task? Who wants to embark on this great mission? The compassion of the Lord is reaching out for today’s generation because He loves them so much and wants to show His lovingkindness and His mercy to them. God is looking for new pioneers to go to frontiers where today’s generation can be reached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Good News that God loves them and that Jesus died for them. God is looking for ambassadors who will tell today’s generation that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself not imputing their trespasses against them but forgiving them and that every person that is in Christ Jesus is a new creature! (II Corinthians 5:17, 18)

We need new churches for the new generation. Who will go and plant new churches? How can they be saved without hearing the Gospel? How can they hear without a preacher and how will they preach except they be sent? (Romans 10:15-17)