Terry Virgo's Blog

He is the Lord and he reigns on high! (part 2)

He is sovereign and His sovereignty is both exhaustive (covering the whole sweep of history) and meticulous (covering every detail of time and place as the stories of Joseph and Esther demonstrate). God is not evil but He controls both good and evil while His holiness is in no way compromised.

Joseph’s brothers, moved with envy, sell him into Egypt. They are following their sinful motivations. But God’s purpose moves forward. Potiphar’s wife invents a wicked story to condemn Joseph to prison. Again, God’s programme takes a further step towards its intended goal. Sin is the driving force but the will of God is being accomplished.

What about you?
Maybe you have been sinned against. Are you offended or outraged? Maybe you are inclined to throw in the towel and give up. But what about God’s sovereign hand upon your life? Are you simply the plaything of circumstances or are you the apple of His eye? Are you at the mercy of random events or are you His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for works prepared beforehand for you to walk in (Eph. 2:10 NASB).

Paul calls us God’s work of art and artwork can have bright and dark aspects, and many shades in between. Will you only trust Him when all is straightforward and plain sailing? It was in the midst of a life-threatening storm at sea that Paul, a prisoner in chains, emerged from a time alone with God and told his terrified companions ‘I believe God!’ and as a result, though still a prisoner in the midst of a terrifying gale, took control of the ship (Acts 27:25).

There are some teachers among the churches today who call themselves ‘open theists’. They hold that God certainly knows everything past and everything present, but cannot know the future, free choices and actions of the men and women He has created. Their very freedom as creatures implies that no-one (not even God!) can know in advance what they will freely choose.

The Bible, on the other hand, shows a God who works all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph. 1:11) and can tell many years in advance what will take place in His creation, such as Bethlehem being the place where the Messiah will be born and that men will gamble for the Saviour’s robe. Yet no-one is forced to act against his own will or preference. Men stay true to themselves and make their own choices, yet find themselves fulfilling God’s great plan.

Following the opening of the Red Sea and the destruction of Egypt’s army, Moses sings his inspired song (Exod. 15), celebrating God’s mighty deliverance. Having an awesome revelation of God, he sings of His great triumph and unique power. He then starts to sing with prophetic insight and revelation about Zion, God’s holy mountain, and the sanctuary that will be built there (Exod. 15:17).

Hold on Moses! They might change their minds! They might decide not to go to Canaan or capture Jerusalem or build a sanctuary. Don’t get carried away! Who knows what will happen? Happily, God does!

Let me suggest to you that we take the same stance as the Apostle Paul who cried, ‘Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord or who became His counsellor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever Amen’ (Rom. 12:33-36).

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He is the Lord and he reigns on high! (part 1)

For the last two years I have been using the daily Bible reading plan designed by the famous Scottish preacher, Robert Murray McCheyne. It takes you through the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms twice in a year. I have found it to be a refreshing experience that I would happily encourage others to embrace, and is actually a complete contrast to my previous Bible reading style of daily dissecting details in short passages of a few verses.

I have enjoyed seeing the ‘big picture’ again and especially being reminded of God’s great skill in developing His master plan, even when men’s sins seem to spoil the plot. Amazingly, in such stories as Joseph’s and Esther’s, man’s sin seems to be incorporated in the plot.

Men are not manipulated by God. They simply take their own independent and often wicked steps but nevertheless find themselves acting within God’s ultimate purpose, just as Jesus was ‘delivered up by the pre-determined plan and foreknowledge of God, (yet) nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men … ‘ (Acts 2:23). As Joseph could later say to his brothers, ‘As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good … to preserve many people alive’ (Gen. 50:20).

God’s ability to incorporate man’s rebellion within His purpose is amazing! He has neither to force, nor manipulate them, but they find themselves unknowingly doing His will and accomplishing His chosen plan while they are simply being true to themselves and doing what comes naturally.

Many years ago I read a Puritan Classic by John Flavel called ‘The Mystery of Providence’. It settled things in my heart about God’s sovereign purpose and His great skill in making things work together for good. Knowing that God is sovereign in this world is a cause of immense comfort. It takes away anxiety and restlessness and removes fear from what man can do to me.

Perplexed but not despairing
Our personal experiences can often be perplexing. It is comforting to read that even the Apostle Paul was sometimes perplexed (2 Cor. 4:8) but because he knew that God was ultimately sovereign this did not lead him into dark energy-sapping despair. Our being temporarily perplexed by delays, disappointments and unexpected turns in the road does not mean that somehow God has lost the plot and things are getting out of hand.

One of the privileges that I enjoy includes flying out of London Heathrow or London Gatwick often through wet and cloudy weather. Within a few brief minutes I am up above the grey oppression and into brilliant sunshine, looking down on the fluffy radiance of the clouds beneath me.

I often remind myself of this on grey days when I go to my morning prayer room, look out at the rain and begin to worship and sing praises to God. My spirit rises up above the oppressive British weather into God’s sunlight where I can again bask in His presence, be freshly filled with His love and utterly assured of His power and providential skill.

Pure escapism? No! Pure reality! Drawing near to a God who is sovereign and who is daily working out His purpose is very different to ‘whistling a happy tune’ and entering into a world of make-believe and unreality. ‘He is the Lord and He reigns on high’ is absolute truth, cast iron reality. He is to be trusted!

[To be continued...]

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A Busy Spring

The first half of this year is very busy and full of travel. Travelling to Japan was a huge privilege, reported in previous blogs. There are times when I am preaching and feeling wonderfully carried along by the Holy Spirit with the huge privilege of being in another nation, affecting another culture, and I just sense God’s wonderful help. At such times I am so grateful for the prayers that are sustaining me in the midst of the whole thing.

USA
Next week I leave for the USA for the Newfrontiers USA national Leaders and Wives conference held in St Louis, Missouri. While there, I have a number of very important meetings with key individuals who are coming in to see me and will also preach at Jubilee Church on the Sunday. On our way home through Chicago, I will be with our friends John and Kim Lalgee and their church in the Kenosha area.

Whilst in St Louis I am also taking two sessions for the pastors in the Acts 29 group from the Mid-West, led by Darrin Patrick, on Prayer and Worship, and am being interviewed for their Resurgence website.

Zimbabwe
After a couple of weeks in the UK,

• I will be travelling to Harare and Bulawayo to address two pastors’ conferences, together with Dr Shana, the leader of the Zimbabwe Evangelical Fellowship. It is anticipated that 2,500 pastors will attend each of these conferences and Scott Marques has already arranged for my book God’s Lavish Grace to be translated into the two tribal languages.
• Both conferences will also have aspects of Foundations for Farming built in. This could be a truly significant national programme leading to one of even greater proportion being prepared for September of this year, when it may well be that many thousands will gather.

South Africa

• I will be speaking four times on 27^th and 28^th March to leaders and celebrations in Durban.
• This is followed by Master Builders Leaders’ Conference, Clarens, gathering leaders of  churches from this part of the Free State in South Africa. Please pray for ongoing energy and ability to relate to these essentially rural African believers.

 Armenia

•  After 9 days in England I’m off to Armenia. A few years ago I had the privilege of speaking at a pastors’ conference in Armenia, which proved to be a group of 2-300 very legalistic pastors who seemed quite offended at my message of grace. Among them was a pastor called Karen, who has since testified that it changed his life and his church and his sphere of influence among other churches in Armenia. He has subsequently been included in our Newfrontiers International Forum and indeed all his churches are Newfrontiers churches. This will be my first visit to him and his people since this all took place.

 Israel 

•  This is immediately followed by a visit to Israel. It has long been my desire to work with churches in Israel and preach the glories of their Messiah and the wonders of the New Covenant. This visit will include meetings hosted by a pastor whose name is ‘Israel’ and who attended our Brighton TOAM conference last year. He has a church of Jewish believers, many of whom have a Russian background.
• This represents a very interesting open door to guys who are not Newfrontiers but really appreciate what we have to say. They really do seem like great people and have recently endured quite a bit of persecution and even physical beatings. Some of their young people were sharing their testimony with other Jewish young people but were set upon and punched. One’s nose was broken but said ‘I don’t intend stopping talking about Jesus.’ Sounds very Biblical!

So we have a very busy schedule! I have nearly finished the manuscript of a new book and have a growing conviction that it could be very significant for the future. I am delighted that God’s Lavish Grace has now been translated into Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Swedish, French and Japanese, and soon to be in two Zimbabwean languages. What a privilege this is! May God help us to change the expression of Christianity around the world.

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Visit to Japan

What a huge pleasure it was to visit Japan last week. Tom and Julie Eaton were student workers at Church of Christ the King in Brighton when God called them and now they have started Grace City Church in Nagoya. Wendy and I loved staying in their home and attending the church that they are planting. It was also a great privilege to address Pastor Mizuno’s church, also in Nagoya, and renew fellowship with this fine Christian statesman.

Our main purpose in going was to address the annual national pastors and wives conference, which was held in a superb location near Shizuoka from which we could see Mount Fuji, snow-covered and resplendent in the background. We had anticipated a gathering of about 550 but were delighted to find that 700 attended. I was invited to address them on the theme of Grace, which I was very happy to do through four main sessions, as well as speaking at two well-attended seminars.

Tom had arranged in advance for my book God’s Lavish Grace to be translated into Japanese and published in time for the conference. They had initially printed 1,000 copies and I was delighted to hear of pastors buying several copies each, so that nearly 500 were sold immediately with another senior pastor ordering 300 to take for his church, so 800 in all! Praise the Lord!

What a joy to proclaim God’s grace in this setting, and what a privilege to touch a completely new culture, be warmly received, have fellowship with pastors, missionaries and Christian workers from right across the nation.

What a thrill to know that hundreds of books are being read and that lives can be transformed to the glory of God by His wonderful grace.

I found the Japanese Christians to be friendly and deeply appreciative of our visit. Wendy was very warmly received as she spoke in a seminar for pastors’ wives and enjoyed fellowship with many.

We also saw several healings, which was an added joy as people testified to the end of pain and freedom to move without hindrance.

It is so exciting to be together on a mission. Peter Brooks, who is based in Sydney and leading Grace City Church joined us for the conference, made many contacts and stayed on to be with Tom and Julie’s church for the following weekend. He serves and oversees the churches that are developing within the Newfrontiers family of churches in the Pacific Rim. I look forward very much to being at their leaders’ conference later in the year when people will gather from Newfrontiers churches in Japan, the Philippines, Cambodia, New Zealand and Australia.

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