Servant Ministries, Inc.
Issue No. 117 Ira & Judy Milligan
February 1, 2008
Branson United
Ministers’ Conference Registration
So far, everyone who has registered for the conference has
been accepted, but we don’t have room for any more!
I’ll call any late registrants and put them on a
“to be notified list” in case someone cancels
out, but if you are one of those please don’t come
unless you are notified. The conference room only holds 150
and we already have 172 registered!
We’re really looking forward to hearing what God has
for us this year. We’ve asked Joe Brock (an apostle
from Birmingham, Alabama) and Johnny Foote (a prophet from
Pensacola, Florida, whom many of you already know) to
minister for us.
The Prophet’s Perspective
The Repetitious Pattern of Church History
The twenty-first century started out with uncertainty
(remember the “Y-2-K” doomsayers?) and major
change – introduced, in part, by the terrorist attack
on 9/11/2001. But the Church was already being shaken
before either of those two events transpired. The latter
part of the twentieth century saw many churches
experiencing stagnation and negative growth as dissatisfied
and disgruntled Christians left their ranks to gather in
private homes for worship and fellowship.
After King Solomon died, his arrogant son tried to impose a
strict, intolerant rule upon the Israelites. Their response
was illustrative to what the Church has encountered during
the last two decades: “Now when all Israel saw that
the king did not listen to them, the people answered the
king, saying: ‘What share have we in David?.... To
your tents, O Israel! Now, see to your own house, O
David!’ So Israel departed to their tents” (1
Kings 12:16).
Church history reveals that this pattern of dissatisfaction
with stagnant, restrictive and sometimes even abusive
church government, which results in the people separating
themselves from the established church and regrouping into
small groups while they wait for change in the leadership
structure, has been repeated for generations. It’s
been going on ever since Martin Luther kicked off the
reformation in 1517.
Every time God wants to bring His people into a new level
of spirituality He has to call them out of the old so that
He can bring them into the new (the word
“church” literally means “called
out”). This explains the broad popularity of the
current “house church” movement. The good news
is that after a season this pattern is always followed by
the Saints reforming into new patterns of public worship
and spiritual service. This shift from informal gatherings
toward a more structured worship is taking place at this
present time.
When David went to get the Ark of the Covenant (which
represents God’s manifest presence) and restore it to
its rightful place, as the Philistines had done years
before he placed it upon a new ox-cart and happily headed
for Jerusalem. When the oxen stumbled God killed one of the
drivers. David quickly realized that he was in error and
took the Ark aside into the house of a Levite named
Obed-Edom. Obed means “worker” and Edom means
“red”, which further translates to
“passion”. Thus “the manifest presence of
God” was awarded to a family who had a “passion
to work for God”. The Ark and its associated
blessings remained there for three months. Three means
“conformed.”
Once David understood and conformed to God’s proper
order he returned for the Ark and this time God gave him
good success. Once the Ark arrived in Jerusalem David
“...distributed among all the people, among the whole
multitude of Israel, both the women and the men, to
everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a cake of
raisins...” (2 Sam. 6:19).
The significance of this passage is both timely and
relevant to what is going on in the Church today: Eating
represents active participation. The people have a heart to
work for God and He wants everyone, male and female, young
and old, actively working in His vineyard. If the existing
leadership wants to stay ahead of the curve they must
conform to the new order and start equipping the Saints for
the work of the ministry (see Eph. 4:12,16). It’s
time for the leaders to train the people and entrust them
with their share of the Lord’s work. As Jesus said,
we must all be about the Master’s business.
“Helping Hands”
Our foreign mission fund has now grown to a little over
$5000. We still need several thousand more but I’m
confident that by the time we start out it will all be
supplied. If everything goes as planned and we can raise
enough money there will be five of us going on this trip.
Thanks, fellows. We can’t go without your help!
Prayer Partners’ Update
Correction! Last month I wrote that our youngest son Bill
had been diagnosed as cancer free. He misunderstood the
Doctor’s report. It stated that he was free from
throat cancer but has colon cancer! Also, his wife Lynn may
have had a mild heart attack mid December. Please lift up
this family in your prayers.
Just Thinking
Recently I awoke thinking about my luggage that was lost
while I was on my last trip to Scotland and Africa. Some
things are one-of-a-kind, completely irreplaceable, and I
had several such things in that luggage. As I thought about
them God spoke and said, “You can’t get back
what you’ve lost”. In other words –let
them go– they are hope-lessly lost and forevermore
gone!
Many things in life fall into that category – from
material things to dashed hopes; from lost loved ones to
broken relationships. Likewise, we can’t recover the
harsh words we’ve said or change the wrongs
we’ve done, nor can we undo some of the wrongs
we’ve suffered at the hands of others.
Wishing for the things we’ve lost won’t bring
them back. Longing for them only prolongs the pain. If we
dream about them we are like a hungry man who dreams that
he is feasting at the table but when he awakens he is
famished, or one who is thirsty dreaming of drinking but
upon waking is still thirsty.
Yet it is impossible to completely forget about some of the
things we’ve lost or wrongs we’ve suffered.
Some things are burned into our memory either through pain
or simply because. they are too precious to lose without
deep regrets. So, what’s the answer? Plain and
simple; it is the hope of eternal life where there are no
painful memories or lasting regrets.
Hope is the anchor of the soul. Paul said, “if in
this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men
most miserable” (1 Cor. 15:19) but our hope goes
beyond the grave. As the Psalmist exclaimed, “Why art
thou cast down, O my soul?... hope thou in God: for I shall
yet praise him for the help of his countenance”
(Psalm 42:5).
