They Shall Come….

I was born a Salvo and I will probably always have Salvo - yellow red and blue, flowing through my blood. However at this stage of my life I am worshipping and working in an amazing church in Victoria, Maybe one of the largest churches in Australia right now. And it is helping me in so many ways.

Today it was the strangest thing, God spoke to my heart, well He has been for a few days now about ministry  and who I am….and today as Shelley preached, my heart was touched again and this old (1986) Song came flooding into my heart and mind. 

 The words of this song have spoken to me for years and then out of the blue here they come again…

The song written by a General in The Salvation Army for one of the musicals that was produced a number of years ago, has caught the attention of Salvos for decades  and in the middle of a Pentecostal church God spoke the truth to me again.

The song words are:

1. They shall come from the east, they shall

come from the west,

And sit down in the Kingdom of God;

Both the rich and the poor, the despised, the

distressed,

They’ll sit down in the Kingdom of God.

And none will ask what they have been

Provided that their robes are clean;

They shall come from the east, they shall

come from the west,

And sit down in the Kingdom of God.

2. They shall come from the east, they shall

come from the west,

And sit down in the Kingdom of God;

To be met by their Father and welcomed and

blessed,

And sit down in the Kingdom of God.

The black, the white, the dark, the fair,

Your colour will not matter there;

They shall come from the east, they shall

come from the west,

And sit down in the Kingdom of God.

3. They shall come from the east, they shall

come from the west,

And sit down in the Kingdom of God;

Out of great tribulation to triumph and rest

They’ll sit down in the Kingdom of God.

From every tribe and every race,

All men as brothers shall embrace;

They shall come from the east, they shall

come from the west.

And sit down in the Kingdom of God.

John Gowans (General)

CityLife church is exactly this.. people from every race, age and gender attend this church. It is outstanding and some of my very good friends now, in this church, call Australia “home” now, when it is not necessarily their country of origin.

in Gods eyes we are all the same. And in Gods future this is what it looks like.

That we should all as brothers and sisters, embrace and be counted as one family. 

The family of God, regardless of what church we attend, what colour our skin is, what clothes we wear, or style of worship we prefer. 

All people as brothers and sisters shall embrace.

That’s the Kingdom of God in a nutshell.

Shelley preached today (an amazing message )about the theatre’s or arena’s and idols in our lives. I guess my theatre, my arena is right here…. Does everyone agree with what I post in my blog ? I doubt it and some have been fairly critical over the years, but still this blog has had over 96,000 hits over the past years and as such, I have spoken my mind on a lot of matters and a lot of people have read it .

  

And I want my readers to know, that I am sold out on Jesus. That He is my King and my Lord and regardless of whether anyone agree’s with me or not I will not be silent and I will keep being who I am and who I was called to be, a messenger of Hope, a messenger of Jesus.

I look at  the world right now, and see conflict, violence and suffering, I see injustice and pain… I see struggle and hardship, and I still know and believe that Jesus Christ is the Hope of the world and that His Church is the vehicle to bring this hope and promise right into the middle of the mess.

Is it any worse now than it has been before ? 

Or is it that we are just hearing more about it now than ever before ? 

I am not sure… 

But I do know this, that one day, people will gather and embrace and hope will be returned and peace will rule once again. Our skin colour wont matter, and neither will anything else …with Jesus as Lord and our eyes set upon Him, 

He is our God.

Out of Great struggle we will arise and our joy will not be able to be measured.

I was distressed today to hear of the persecution and criticism that some Pastors have to wear. I recognise it, I have had my fair share over the years, often from people who have no real idea at all and hardly any experience in doing what you (I) have done as a Pastor …Officer, Preacher.

So today ..I feel energized, pumped up and ready to go again in whatever God has for me to do next. 

We have amazing people leading this church, Chloe led us today in worship, and she is outstanding as a worship leader, in my opinion…  she always blesses me with her singing and obvious heart for Jesus.

Clem hosted our service and helped us to be focused. Clem is half the reason why I am working at this church right now. Such a good man, who I respect and value highly.

So whatever is next… I am ready !!! (Justsayin)