Lynn Green's pastoral word to YWAM: becoming a holy people

God creates by speaking His Word and then working with us to make it happen. Nearly 50 years ago, He brought his Word to a young man by the name of Loren Cunningham in the form of a vision of waves ofyoung people covering the whole earth with the Good News about JesusChrist. Since that year, 1960, God has been working with Loren andthen Darlene and all who joined their hearts to them and that visionto make it happen.

When I went to Lausanne, Switzerland to attend a School of Evangelismin the summer of 1969, I could never have imagined that our littlegroup of young people scattered in a few nations around the worldcould become the great, global family that we are today. Our HeavenlyFather is building this family for a purpose. That purpose is a verybig one and it is defined in Matthew 28:18-20:

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and onearth has been given to me; therefore go and make disciples of allnations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son andof the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I havecommanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end ofthe age."

With such a huge calling, we need to work with the whole Body ofChrist whereever we are. We also need to keep growing in numbers andin purity. As we have written before, we are now in a season when wecan expect to grow like never before, and God is calling us toholiness in preparation for that.

Matthew 28 is the passage from which we get a term that we hear quitea lot these days--"discipling nations". I notice that term isunderstood quite differently from one person to another and sometimesfrom one team or base to another. But note that Jesus commanded us tomake disciples of all nations. Did He mean for us to win people toHim from every ethnic background, or did He mean that we could seewhole nations become obedient to Him?

However we interpret that phrase, we know that our approach must bethe same as His. We must win people to faith in Christ and to a lifeof learning to obey everything he commanded. That life of obedienceis the path we have chosen and we are all meant to reproduce!

Just this morning, my wife, Marti, and I were expressing our deepdesire to win more people to Jesus. I know that I am not "abiding inthe vine" (John 15:4-8) to the depth that He wants me to until I amregularly "bearing fruit". Though I can be encouraged when I bear thefruits of the Spirit, the primary purpose of fruit in God's creationis reproduction. Let us all pray for more of that kind of fruit inour lives. We cannot begin to think we are "discipling nations" untilwe are making disciples.

We cannot "disciple nations" by only working through the positionsand people of power in a nation. It is only when many people in anation turn to active faith in Jesus and begin to obey His teachingthat a process of transformation in that society can begin. Thatchange can bring an entire nation into alignment with the ways ofGod, so that their government, their laws, their culture and everylife-sphere reflects aspects of godly values. However, no nation willbe entirely obedient to God. That is our calling as the Body ofChrist whom Peter refers to as "a chosen people, a royal priesthood,a holy nation, a people belonging to God" in 1 Peter 2:9.

As we grow in obedience to all that He taught, (as in Matthew 28:19)we grow in His authority. As I look through the scriptures, theauthority of Jesus stands out as one of the first things peoplenoticed about Him. It is also a quality that He imparted to Hisdisciples (Luke 9:1). But they did not exercise that authority withHis grace until after the day of Pentecost. At one point, when theyvisited the city of Samaria, they wanted to call down fire fromheaven on the people because they felt rejected by them!

God wants to give us authority to make disciples of all nations, butwe must first learn to live a life of obedience, humility and grace.I believe He is eager to impart authority to us--and how we need it!But authority without Christ-like character is too dangerous.

That brings us back to our prophetic theme for this season, Joshua 5.Israel was allowed to cross the Jordan because all those whodisobeyed had died in the wilderness and the nation consisted of anew generation of obedient and faith-filled people. The Lord wasready to give them the authority to take the land and rule it inrighteousness. But first, they had to be circumcised or sanctified.

With the goal of "taking the land" in mind, we need to keep askingthe Lord to sanctify us--to make us a holy people. We want the HolySpirit to purge us of all disunity, unbelief, secret sins andappetite for the "things of this world" (1 John 2:15). Please spendsome time before the Lord again, asking Him to convict you personallyand as a team or community of anything that is preventing you fromexercising the authority that is yours in Christ Jesus. Be sure,also, to read the teaching on repentance! It will help all of us tobe thorough in our response to God.

When we begin to move in the authority that Jesus has for us, we willbe a mighty force, working in unity with others, for the purpose ofbringing the nations before the throne of God. Have a great prayer day!

In His Peace,

Lynn GreenInternational Chairman, YWAM