Victory at 25: Honor God. Make disciples.

July 25, 2009

 

 25 years of honoring God and Making disciples

  1984- Pastor Steve Murrell together with his wife and co-workers in Christ went to the Philippines to build a church. They had a vision for this nation and so they laid their lives for this vision and worked on it until the house of God grew .This year, we are celebrating its silver anniversary. 25 years of perseverance and passion for the glory of Christ Jesus. From 100 members serving in its pioneer church found in the university belt , Victory Philippines has now reached up to 50,000 members scattered across the country- from the Northern islands of Luzon to Southern Mindanao.

 

July 24,2009,Araneta Coliseum, Cubao, Quezon City-  nearly 16000 christians gathered to celebrate this 25th year of continuous service to the Almighty God. It started  with Victory’s got talent, showcasing the talents of the church members. The programme was full of surprise numbers from different actors and actresses who are members of the Victory churches scattered in the Metro Manila area. Supposedly the show must  be strictly 2 hours but due to insistent public demand, the programme was extended and was ended by a celebration led by the music team.

The most important part of the programme was not the singing and dancing but the preaching of the gospel and the casting of visions of the head pastors of Victory. Here are some of the details of the messages delivered by Paster Murrell and the prominent people in Victory’s history. I have the honor to spread the word in this post

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

-Matthew 28:19

    Pastor Steve told the story which happened during the their third week here in the Philippines way back in 1984. It was the year of the activists then that almost every day, student leaders and rallyists gather along the streets of Recto, marching towards the Malacanang palace. He emphasized it was the natural scenario, the normal scene every day. And during fridays, more people gathered , counting up to 30000 people doing the leg work. And what the government did that time was to barricade the roads , making sure no one can enter the premises in close proximity to the palace. The police and the military used tear gas and water cannons to shove the rallyists away. It was a normal scene really, and they got used to it since the activity center was then found at the basement of a building along the street of Recto near Mendiola, where the groups would stop and rest for awhile. Nothing changes, they saw the same scenes everyday until that fateful day of July 4,1984, a friday.  All of a sudden the students went running towards the opposite direction, screaming and scared to death. It was the time when water cannons and tear gas were not present but instead guns were fired and shots were clear enough to kill anyone in the group. It was that day when the pastors had the adrenaline rush to run for the megaphone and shout the instinctive phrase  “IT’S SAFE IN HERE”, pointing towards the direction of the activity center, assisting people to come in. And so the activity center was literally jampacked. A lot of people ran towards the basement and found themselves in a room without ventilation. Despite the heat, the smell and the fear, the music team managed to play 4 songs and so all the people were left dumbfounded seemingly wondering what kind of concert they were in. Afterwhich, the pastors preached the gospel to the hundreds of people (approximately 650)  whacking in that hot, smelly room.  God’s grace poured at the moment and many were saved and were baptized (immediately) in the name of the Father, the Son and in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.  That day was one of the turning point in Victory’s history. It was when they were so right in shouting “IT’S SAFE IN HERE” not only because of the SAFETY of the room found at the basement but because of the SALVATION the people received while staying in there.

That’s how the mission was further pushed through, making disciples. It might be odd for these people to preach the gospel at the soonest time possible after they were saved but it doesn’t matter.For the belief is: As long as you are a week ahead, a chapter ahead, you can make disciples. God said

-Matthew 13:32

In making disciples, you must plant a seed in every person. In every little way possible, do it for like a mustard seed, by God’s grace, it will grow. It will grow and be the greatest in the garden. Likewise, plant a seed in the heart of the people you love, you care about and even the strangers you meet every day. For by God’s grace it will grow and they will know Him more.

Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

 -Matthew 13:33

Likewise when you go forth and spread the word, it won’t be a little deed you’d be doing. It’s like the yeast that will spread through the dough until the whole was leavened. Plant a seed, make disciples and when it grows, not only communities, not only cities but the whole nation and the whole world will prosper. 

Our dream to have a God-fearing nation is never that impossible. We only need to believe. We have to believe for God’s grace and power to work upon the hearts of every government leader, every business tycoon, every head of a family, every person on earth and in every generation. And what other method to build this kind of nation than spreading the world and making disciples.  The day when pastors shouted “IT’S SAFE IN HERE”, and ran towards the basement will never happen again. No more running towards a safe place. No more hiding. Today is the day when christians should go out in the open, run towards the battlefield and conquer every place, every nation using the word of the FATHER. No more hiding in the comfort zone. No more whimping and whining. Today, the followers of christ must stand in the frontline in this battle to conquer this nation- to build a GOD-fearing nation, to build a better place for  GOD’s people where HE is always glorified.

The question now is HOW? We christians may hesitate because we may think we are not good enough. But we just have to remember God and what he says;

 …..Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen.

 -Matthew 28:20

God will always be with us every step of the way. There’s nothing to fear. Go and live according to His will.

HONOR God, MAKE disciples.