Good Advice.

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This Teaching is Excerpt 1 from the Radio Antioch Video Podcast Episode 12. To watch the video, click the player above.

   After beginning our Radio Antioch meetings last year, I have been seeking the Lord about the next steps with the ministry. I was attending a series of worship meetings in Chicago recently. I was happily worshiping one evening when the Lord stunned me with a revelation; “It’s not what you are preaching, it’s what you are doing”.

You see, we have been putting sermons on the internet for 4 years, many with a common theme about moving into that overcoming lifestyle based upon intimacy with God.

   So back to the new revelations part: The Lord had said to me that it was not what we are preaching, but what we are doing. So I began to ponder what this meant. The things I have been writing the last four years center around encouraging the believer to enter into an intimate, personal relationship with the Lord and to worship with intensity and abandon. And the type of church we model here reflects these ideas. And honestly, I believe that there will be much greater freedom in the Spirit, anointing and power as we continue on this path. I also began to notice that there was a greater freedom in worship at our host church after we had our meetings here. Time and again, people would point that out to me the day after our meetings on Saturday night. I realized that the hours of prayer and worship that we were doing on Saturday night was affecting the spiritual climate in other meetings on Sunday. I dawned on me that perhaps worship-oriented meetings like we are doing could be a key strategy to raise the spiritual hunger and activity in a land dominated with “comfortable” church.

 A couple of weeks ago I was at another worship service, and the Lord brought me back to one of our core teachings for a fresh look:

Exodus 33:7-11 NASB

    Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And it came about, that everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp. [8] And it came about, whenever Moses went out to the tent, that all the people would arise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and gaze after Moses until he entered the tent. [9] And it came about, whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; and the Lord would speak with Moses. [10] When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would arise and worship, each at the entrance of his tent. [11] Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

   This tent that Moses pitched outside the camp was not the tabernacle of Moses the housed the Ark of the Covenant. The tabernacle and the ark were not constructed until Exodus 36. A number of places in scripture this tabernacle was called the tent of meeting. But in Exodus 33, this is a different tent. Moses set it up a good distance from the camp in order to meet with the Lord, as the sin of the people caused the Lord not to be in their midst. But notice in verse seven that in addition to Moses, there were those who would also go outside the camp in order to seek the Lord. They would leave behind the comfort of the camp and their fellow Israelites, leave behind the rebellion and sin so prominent at this time, and seek the presence of God. In verse 9 we see a pillar of cloud descending upon the tent, and the Lord speaking with Moses.

Verse ten is interesting. It says that when the people saw the cloud fall on this lone tent, they would worship from afar, at the doors of their own tents.  They would worship, but they stayed in their comfort zone, in the camp (with all that that implies) but would not themselves go up.

   This represents many in the Body of Christ today. They worship from afar, never leaving their camp, never leaving their comfort zone. They may acknowledge the glory and presence of God, but they themselves are either afraid to enter into it themselves, or unwilling to leave the comfort of the camp that they know so well. Sadly, they never really know the presence of God.

     But there are those who will leave their comfort zone, leave the comfortable camp. They will seek the Lord. In verse eleven, we see that Joshua, the servant of Moses, would remain in the tent even after Moses would leave. There are those who will press in to the presence of God, leaving the camp behind.  And Joshua, who left the camp behind to seek after the presence of the Lord, received his heart’s desire. In Joshua 1:5, the Lord said to Joshua: “Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you"

   I have taught this particular teaching several time here, and in Africa. But I few weeks ago the Lord brought this to mind: I have been critical of those in mainstream church who “stand in the doorway of their tent” and do not really seek His presence, because I have a passion and a call to help people enter in to His presence. In Exodus, Moses had set up this tent outside of the camp. In the camp there was sin, there was rebellion, and there were those who came along with the rest of the family but did not really have a heart for God.  I get the feeling that there were not all that many people that would join Moses and Joshua outside the camp.  But there were some that were hungry for More of God.

    But the Lord showed me that when His presence arrived at the tent, even those standing in the door of the tent would bow and worship. When Joshua, and Moses and others went to meet with the Lord and the pillar of cloud representing the presence of God came, even those who would not enter in directly were drawn into worship. So now I understood that a small group of believers that would press in to the presence of God had a powerful impact.

       The Lord showed me that I did not understand those who like "comfortable” church, perhaps the “less radical” crowd, or the “seeker sensitive” congregations, or the churches that try to be “relevant” (by teaching a “soft” gospel?) because my desire is to enter into His presence, and to lead others to do the same. My heart is to help establish “Presence Based” church.

   So what does this look like? When we minister in Africa, all we do is pray and worship until the presence of the Lord comes. Then, we can preach or minister. We see signs and wonders, people being healed, as the presence of God fill the place. One time we ministered until everyone was out on the floor. There was nothing else to do, I guess the service was over, so we quit! But the simple model is that we press in to the presence of God, and let the Holy Spirit soften our hearts and bring us close. Then, we teach, preach or pray for people. So we are promoting this model of presence-based church. We press in to God’s presence every time we meet. And if the Holy Spirit starts moving, maybe we don’t preach that day. A few years ago I was a guest speaker in a local church, and I told them that every time I preach, I pray beforehand that the Holy Spirit would begin to move in worship and we would just stay in God’s presence and I would preach another day. People asked me “Do you Really pray that?” YES I DO. I hold loosely to the ministry. If God has a different agenda for this service, who am I to get in the way? When I am invited to speak, I pray and prepare the message, but I would rather see God show up and we have a mini-revival, and I get bumped to next week. Everybody thought I was crazy, but then a few weeks ago in that very church that very thing happened!

   Now hear my heart here- I am a teacher and love teaching and preaching the Word. But worship is the only part of our present church that we will carry into eternity. As important as offerings, mission reports, or evangelism are today, we won’t need them in Heaven. But we will worship the Lord for all eternity.  So we are practicing for eternity by building our style of presence-based church.

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[See post to watch Flash video]

This Teaching is Radio Antioch Video Podcast Episode 12. To watch the video, click the player above.

   In Episode 12 we are doing a little vision casting for Radio Antioch - and introducing the idea of Presence Based Church. Watch as we take a look at where we have been, where we are, and where we are going!

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   Hello Friends,

   Radio Antioch, our inter-church worship and teaching fellowship will be meeting this Saturday night at 7 pm. We will begin with a rich time of worship and waiting on the presence of God, followed by a time of teaching and fellowship. We will also be making our first live run at streaming our meetings LIVE on the Internet. Due to copyright restrictions, we will not be broadcasting the worship at this time. You can visit our live feed at http://antiochtabernacle.org/blog/live/  or by clicking on the "Live Video" button above. We expect to begin broadcasting approximately 7:45 pm, depending upon how the service unfolds!

   We are meeting at the Christian Life Fellowship church, a wonderful church in Antioch that lets us “borrow” their sanctuary for these meetings. Their Address is:

41625 North Deep Lake Road Antioch, Illinois 60002

For Mapquest directions, click HERE.

Please send us an e-mail if you have any questions.
We hope to see you there!

Photo Credit

Dave preaching under the tent in Kakira

We are excited to announce that Jan and I will be going to Uganda this summer, departing June 29th for about two weeks.

Our first stop will be at the Tumaini Children’s home, overseen by our friend Nicolas Ongamo.
We regularly send funds to help feed the 80+ kids here as part of our outreach program.

Some wonderful children from Tumaini at dinnertime. Pastor Nicholas has had a very hard time in the last few months raising enough money for food, as offerings from the US are down. If you would like to contribute to help buy a few bags of rice and beans to help out the kids, use the donate link at left and note “for the kids” and we will see that Pastor Nicholas gets 100% of your gift.

We will next be ministering at the church in Source Village. Antioch Tabernacle Ministries funded the construction of this church and we minister there when we are in the area.

A view inside the source church, with a few of the ever-present children peeking in at the Mazungu.

The village churches are typically not very large, but we pack over a hundred people in during a service.

The worship team belting out the praises “a capella” !

Next we will be ministering at Kakira Christian center. This is the “Mother” church overseen by Pastor Ongamo, who raises up the next generation leaders and plants them out in the village churches. After a Sunday in Kakira, we will go on to Wandago village, the site of the second church that we have raised funds to construct. Wandago village has two main engines that drive its economy- Homemade Rum and Prostitution. In addition to constructing the church there, we also provide the salary for Pastor Patrick in Wandago, from our missions offerings.

The Church in Wandago, constructed in 2006-2007.

For the next few days we will be working with our missionary friend Dr. Cliff Pash and the Ugandan government, using our churches as a base to host a medical outreach, providing Aids and syphilis testing, various immunizations and health counseling.

Our next stop will be Evangel Church in Jinja, where we will be holding a conference with Dr Pash, building into the local churches and leaders ministering 3-4 times over a three day period.

Our last stop will be in Nawansega province, where we have been working with Dr. Pash to establish a mission base. Jan and I will be preaching there during the evenings and one Sunday morning.

The Orphan Facility in Nawansega. Your offerings provided a large portion of the funding to construct this, as part of our third African church construction project. We also raised funds to contribute to the construction of the large open-air pavillion used as a main sanctuary, where 300-400 people gather for Sunday morning worship.

We have several needs that we want to share with you. First, we very much need your prayers as we travel about the villages, not only for traveling mercies but also that the ministry will be fruitful and that lives will be touched. We are also in need of finances, not only for our travel expenses, but also to sow into the ministry projects. If the you want to support our missionary outreach, you can donate using the “Donate” link to the left, or by mailing to our PO Box. As always, all donations are tax deductible in the United States.

Thanks again for your continued prayers and support. You are much appreciated.

Dave and Jan

   Hello Friends,

   Radio Antioch, our inter-church worship and teaching fellowship will be meeting this Saturday night at 7 pm. We will begin with a rich time of worship and waiting on the presence of God, followed by a time of teaching and fellowship.

   We are meeting at the Christian Life Fellowship church, a wonderful church in Antioch that lets us “borrow” their sanctuary for these meetings. Their Address is:

41625 North Deep Lake Road Antioch, Illinois 60002

For Mapquest directions, click HERE.

Please send us an e-mail if you have any questions.
We hope to see you there!

Photo Credit

Sometimes you have to hold loosely to the world to reach your destiny in Christ.

[See post to watch Flash video]

   This teaching is part 7 of the Radio Antioch Podcast Episode 10. To watch as a short video, click on the player above. To watch the full video of episode 10, click here.

   A friend of mine, John Kramer, has a teaching he calls “Hold Loosely” that I have adopted as one of the core beliefs of our ministry. Simply put, it means to hold loosely to the things of this world. For example, suppose you have money. Sure, it’s in your hand. Use it, buy something nice, but don’t horde it. Remember to also do something for the Body of Christ. Don’t hold so tightly to it that it consumes you or becomes an idol in your life. Have you been given a car? Use it for a while. When you don’t need it anymore, give it away. This principle applies to non-material things as well. Suppose the Lord has given you a ministry. Remember it’s not really yours, it is something the Lord has entrusted you with. You are NOT the owner, but rather the steward. When I speak at a church, I frequently tell the worship leader that if the Spirit is moving in the worship, don’t be afraid and take time to flow with it. Every time I am invited to preach, I pray the worship service will be so powerful that the congregation would get caught up in worship and we would just have to preach some other time. I believe in preaching the word, and that God uses the messages I preach, but I hold loosely to both and leave the service to God.

     Hold loosely  to the things that God gives you. If you are faithful with the things you are entrusted with, He can give you so much more. If God can trust you not to hang on to that ministry, the He can give you a bigger and better one. You haven’t earned it anyway, it’s all God. This works for the things you have earned as well. If you can be trusted with money, maybe you will make money in your investments when everyone else is losing, as the Lord’s blessing extends to you.

     If you hold loosely to the things God gives you, and pass the test when God says “give away the car” or “leave the job” then God can bless you with His increase. Even things like “lay down your life” become possible when you hold loosely to the things of this world. If you hold loosely to things in your heart, it is easier to pass the test. I don’t know if I would pass the test Stephen passed in the book of acts. I hear so many believers thump their chest like Peter claiming they would die for the Lord. I would hope that I would have the courage to do what Stephen did. If God asked you to pack up and move to another part of the country, would you be able to do it? How submitted are we to the Holy Spirit in our lives? I read the end of the book. In the end we go to heaven. But do we really believe it enough to let the Holy Spirit arrest our lives and guide us? To change our thoughts to what God has called us to be?

Acts 13:2     While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."

      The people in this verse had a choice. Barnabas and Saul had to choose to go on the missionary journey. The other elders in the Antioch church had to hold loosely to their vision for the work in Antioch and release them to fulfill their destinies.

   You see, Paul was not a danger to the kingdom of Darkness when he was arresting Christians. It was when Christ arrested Paul that he became truly dangerous. In the same way, it looked bad for the church in Antioch when their two best were sent away. But it really became bad for the devil when they started planting churches, taking the fire from Antioch and sowing it to the world. When we become arrested by God, He can sow our lives into a situation with powerful kingdom results. Over history some have lived, others have died, many have been sent from one place to another. Are you submitted enough to the Spirit to join their company and become truly Dangerous? This is a personal test. I don’t know if I would pass all of these tests. Some I have passed already, others I can only hope to have the courage. I have the same prayer for you, that you would pass the tests and become all that you can be in God.

    Some of you are going through the testing even now. Maybe some are wavering and really need to be encouraged with what I am saying. Others may be coming up on a test and need to ponder these words now so that you pass.

    Even some churches will have to pass this test. God doesn’t need fat, self satisfied American churches to get His plan done. I’ve been out and around, and trust me, for the most part we are the least powerful dollar for dollar, man for man on the planet. Sure, there are shining examples of powerful churches, but in general our huge numbers and immense wealth are not used to the fullest Kingdom advantage. We have more knowledge, wealth and gifted people with calls of God on their lives than any nation on earth. And we often waste it. If we would just surrender and let God arrest us, we really could change the world.

    I dare you to be a true new testament believer in a true new testament church. I pray that the newspapers in hell would be full of bad news of how sold out and transformed Christians are pushing back the darkness. I dare you to pass the test, be transformed to the purposes of God. I leave the challenge in your hands- will you be arrested for God?

Credits

Hello Friends,

    Radio Antioch, our inter-church worship and teaching fellowship will be meeting this Saturday night at 7 pm. We will begin with a rich time of worship and waiting on the presence of God. Then we will move into a time of vision casting as we share some new and exciting news as Radio Antioch continues to grow and develop.

   We are meeting at the Christian Life Fellowship church, a wonderful church in Antioch that lets us “borrow” their sanctuary for these meetings. Their Address is:

41625 North Deep Lake Road Antioch, Illinois 60002

For Mapquest directions, click HERE.

Please send us an e-mail if you have any questions.
We hope to see you there!

Photo Credit

Ancient Church cut into the rock, Goreme, Turkey

[See post to watch Flash video]

This teaching is part 6 of Radio Antioch Podcast Episode 10.Click above to watch a short video of this teaching. The full video of Podcast 10 is available Here.

     Sometimes entire churches are arrested by God and put on a different track.

Acts 13:1-3  In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. [2] While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." [3] So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

  So here we have this great church in Antioch, with prophets and teachers ministering to build a strong local church.  A church that has a five-fold teacher or prophet  ministering in it is a powerful church. In the book of Acts, the church in Antioch is second only to the church in Jerusalem in its impact. In fact, some people feel it was even greater as they were such a key part in evangelizing the world.

    Imagine these elders fasting and praying about their church: “Lord, help this brother, who is going astray”, or “Lord please supply the finances for all that we do”…You know, the kind of prayers many deacons and elders go through as part of running a ministry.  Out of the blue the Holy Spirit arrests them, suddenly speaking into their prayer meeting! Imaging how that would stir up the church today, if during a prayer meeting the Holy Spirit suddenly commission two of the greatest pastors in the church to go off as missionaries! Think how that would mess up our capital Campaigns and Building Programs! In fact, their vision and plan that they had for their church just got turned upside down! Maybe they won’t be the most popular church in Antioch anymore because the apostle was sent away!

   That group of elders could have held on to Barnabas and Paul. They could have let them go on only a short journey, or not at all. Instead, they gave their best back to God. They had to submit their vision to the kingdom purposes of God, and let go of their pastors. And the church in Antioch prospered, and Paul and Barnabas changed the world. Sometimes even our local churches have to be part of a bigger, kingdom vision.

   There was nothing wrong with this church, faithfully building up the believers. But God arrested them, moving them away from their local vision to a kingdom mind-set that changed the world. This church became the launching point for the famous Missionary Journeys that brought Christianity to the World.

 Perhaps some of you are wrestling with God about choices. The Lord wants to adjust your thinking, maybe about your walk with him, your church or your ministry. In these times we have to have the courage to go with God, instead of holding tightly to our vision and agenda.

Credits

Hello Friends,

Just a quick reminder for those of you in Northern Illinois and SE Wisconsin, we will be having our regular Saturday night Radio Antioch meeting this Saturday night at 7 PM.
Join us for a time of worship, fellowship and teaching.

We are meeting at the Christian Life Fellowship church, a wonderful church in Antioch that lets us “borrow” their sanctuary for these meetings. Their Address is:

41625 North Deep Lake Road Antioch, Illinois 60002

For Mapquest directions, click HERE.

Please send us an e-mail if you have any questions.
We hope to see you there!

Photo Credit

A  mosaic of St Paul from Westminster Cathedral.

This Teaching is Part 5 of our Podcast Episode 10. To watch as a short video, click the player above. To watch the full teaching of Episode 10, Click HERE.

Acts 9:1-9  Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest [2] and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. [3] As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. [4] He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” [5] “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. [6] “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”    [7] The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. [8] Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. [9] For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

So Saul is on a mission to destroy the church. In his mind, he is at the pinnacle of Judaism, He has letters from the High Priest and has become the “protector of the faith”, so to speak. Suddenly this divine confrontation comes, and here Saul is knocked off his horse, flat on his back. (Actually, it doesn’t’ actually say he was on a horse, and if he were riding it was likely a donkey, but you get the idea. The journey he was on was about 120 miles, or about 6 days if on foot.) But he hit the ground- Paul was face to face with the contradiction: He thinks all is right with God, and then suddenly this happens!  No wonder he asked “Who are you, Lord?”  If this is Jesus, then in all his zeal Saul has really messed up. He is caught in the middle of those letters in his “back pocket” from the high priest, and the risen Christ in front of him. Talk about arrested! He was on a mission for the religious powers of that day, and God arrested him on the spot, knocked him to the ground, and asks but one question: Why are you persecuting Me?.

I love the “who are you, Lord?”  Because if Saul now is before God Himself, he some re-evaluation of his religion to do! Jesus in His mercy simply says “ I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting”. Saul finds himself struck blind. If you remember, that was what God did to the men of Sodom when they needed to be stopped in their tracks. Saul now realizes he has some repenting to do.

Here we have another believer arrested. Saul, in his misguided zeal for God, was destroying the church. But God knocked him off his horse, arresting him in his folly and turned him into the greatest apostle and evangelist ever known: The Lord says in Acts 9:15 that Saul was His chosen instrument to carry His name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.

Now the Hades Daily Chronicle has this headline:

Danger! That Believer
arrested by God,
and now turned against Us!

Not only did God turn Saul around, but the very monster that was persecuting the church was now turned against the devil. Satan though he had created a weapon in Saul, and God said, “okay, now point the muzzle in the other direction! I love it when the Lord messes with the devil!

So Saul becomes the man we remember as Paul the apostle, one of the greatest servants in the kingdom.  Since Paul had literally been a murderer, I wonder if the memory of his misguided zeal kept him humble in spite of the awesome things he was entrusted with.

In fact, Paul came to have a keen understanding that God uses tough times to open doors in the kingdom. In Philippians 1:12 he says about his imprisonment:

Philip. 1:12  Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.

God can use the things that have happened in your life as a weapon against the enemy as well. Turn them over to God, repent of any sin and let the Lord heal you, and now, you can help others going through the same thing. The more surrendered Paul became, the more he could be used by God. All of his trials served to build his character so that he could bear the task before him.

I wonder how often in our zeal we do religious things for God, missing His real plan? Paul was one of the greatest believers ever, but boy, was he ever wrong in this case- I wonder if sometimes the church itself needs to be arrested and put back on track!

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