9.12.2012 YUN V - THE CHURCH IN THE WEST

yun after escape from prison, like the apostle paul and others, 'having no more place in these parts', was moved to seek asylum in the west so that he and his family might, for the first time, have a period of normal family life (they were rarely together in china). he had been commissioned by the house church fellowship of which he was one of five leaders, to be the spokesman for the back to jerusalem evangelism/discipleship endeavour among the nations. after a stint in jail in myanmar he was finally united with his family in germany. here follows some of his observations after having been exposed to the church in the west firsthand.

...'before i travelled to the west i had absolutely no idea that so many churches were spiritually asleep.

(note: this, in my understanding is a euphemism for 'spiritually dead' as was true at the church of sardis in asia when the apostle john wrote to them, 'and unto the angel (literally, 'messanger'..which i take to mean the presiding elder or spiritual overseer of that church) of the church in sardis write;
these things saith He that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars;
I KNOW THY WORDS, THAT THOU HAST A NAME THAT THOU LIVEST AND ART DEAD.
...if the leader of a group of believers is dead spiritually, the people tend to follow. is there any other way for a spiritually alive believer to function in the midst of deadness than to
1. to be committed to obeying matthew 18.15f no matter who the second party is.
2. to be committed to speaking the truth in love, ephesians 4.15, no matter who the second party is.
3. to be committed to following Jesus' ethic to
love your enemies
do good to those who hate you
bless those who curse you
pray for those who spitefully abuse you
not judge anyone
not condemn anyone
pardon everything that is done against you
give to everyone..good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over
4. to refuse to leave...unless cast out officially? i guess the more common to start over in another 'mess'...)

...'i presumed the western church was strong and vibrant because it had brought the gospel to my country with such incredible faith and tenacity. many missionaries had shown a powerful example to us by laying down their lives for the sake of Jesus.

on some occasions i've struggled while speaking in western churches. there seems to be something missing that leaves e feeling terrible inside. many meetings are cold and lack the fire and presence of God that we have in china.

in the west many christians have an abundance of material possessions, yet they live in a backslidden state. they have silver and gold, but they don't rise up and walk in Jesus' name. in china we have no possessions to hold us down, so there's nothing preventing us from moving out for the Lord...

..in a similar way, i pray that god might use the chinese church to help the western church rise up and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. it's almost impossible for the church in china to go to sleep in its present situation. there's always something to keep us on the run and it's very difficult to sleep while you're running. if persecution stops, i fear we'll become complacent and fall asleep
(note: this is reminiscent of one out of the 1967 revival in indonesia who said this principle: IF THE CHURCH DOES NOT CONTINUALLY GO OUT (NOT SEND OUT, BUT GO OUT) TO THE WORLD..THE WORLD WILL COME INTO THE CHURCH)

many pastors in europe and america have told me they want to see great revival. i'm frequently asked why china is experiencing revival but most places in the west are not. this is a big question to answer, but some reasons are very apparent to me.

when i'm in the west i see
all the mighty church buildings and
all the expensive equipment,
plush carpets and
state of the art sound systems.
i can assure the western church with absolute certainty that you don't need any more church buildings. church buildings will never bring the revival you seek.
the pursuit of more possessions will never bring revival.
Jesus truly stated,
a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. luke 12.15.

(note: if the bible says that
greed (lit. the desire for just a little more) is idolatry.. ephesians 5.5, and that
a person cannot serve both God and mammon (lit. valued possessions) matthew 6.24..and that
we are to be content with food and raiment (and anything more brings a trail that leads to destruction I timothy 6.8-9....
is there any member of the western church including myself who can be used of God...who is not even in danger of being under the condemnation of God?)

..the first thing needed for revival to return to your churches is the word of the Lord.

(note: starting with evangelical poverty being first practiced by the elders..and then preached to the people?)

God's word is missing. sure, there are many preachers and thousands of tapes and videos of bible teaching, but SO LITTLE CONTAINS THE SHARP TRUTH OF GOD'S WORD. IT IS THE TRUTH THAT WILL SET YOU FREE. not only is knowledge (note: more..'obedience to') of God's word missing, but obedience to that word. there's NOT MUCH ACTION taking place.

when revival came to believers in china, the result was thousands of evangelists being sent out to all corners of the nation, carrying fire from the altar of God with them. when God moves in the west, it seems you want to stop and enjoy His presence and blessings too long and build an altar to your experiences.
YOU CAN NEVER REALLY KNOW THE SCRIPTURES UNTIL YOU'RE WILLING TO BE CHANGED (note: OBEY..DO) BY THEM.
all genuine revivals of the Lord result in believers responding with action and soul winning.
WHEN GOD TRULY MOVES IN YOUR HEART YOU CANNOT REMAIN SILENT. (oh Lord help me! have mercy upon me!)
there will be a fire in your bones, like jeremiah, who said,
His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. i am weary of holding it in; indeed,
I CANNOT. JEREMIAH 20.9

furthermore, it's only when we step out in obedience and share the gospel with people that we come to know God's blessing in every area of our lives. that is why the apostle paul wrote to his co-worker philemon,
i pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. v6

i've seen people in western churches worshipping as if they're already in heaven. then someone invariably brings a comforting message like,
'My children, I love you.
don't be afraid, I'm with you.
i'm not opposed to such words, but why is it that nobody seems to hear a word from the Lord like,
'My child, I want to send you to the slums of asia or the darkness of africa to be My messenger to people dying in their sin?

multitudes of church members in the west are satisfied with giving their minimum to Go, not their maximum. i've watched men and women during offering time in church. they open their fat wallets and search for the smallest amount they can give. this type of attitude will never do! Jesus gave His whole life for us and we give as little of our lives, time and money as we can back to God. what a disgrace! repent! (help me, o God!)

this may sound strange, but i even miss the offering we used to give in china. on numerous occasions the leader of a meeting would announce,
we have anew worker who is leaving tomorrow to serve the Lord.
immediately every single person would completely empty their pockets of everything they had. with that money the worker would buy a train or bus ticket and leave the next day. often this money was not just everything we had in our pockets at the time, but everything we owned in the whole world.

just because you have a church building doesn't necessarily mean Jesus is with you. He is not welcome in many churches today. in revelation 3.20 Jesus said,
here I am!
I stand at the door and knock
if anyone hears My voice and opens the door,
I will come in and eat with him and he with me.
often this verse is used as an invitation for salvation, but actually the context Jesus was speaking in was very different. he was standing outside the door of the church in laodicea, knocking to get in!

of course not all western churches are asleep! (note:?)

..if you do these things you will see revival.
are you willing to give your ALL to God and to His service?
those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens and
those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. daniel 12.3

in the west you have so much.
you have insurance for everything.
in a way, you don't need God
when my father was dying of stomach cancer, we sold everything we had to try to cure him.
when everything was gone we had no hope but God.
we turned to Him in desperation and so Him mercifully answered our prayers and healed my father.
we reasoned that if god could do that then He could do anything,
so our faith grew and
we've seen many miracles.

in China, the greatest miracles we see are not the healings or other things,
but lives transformed by the gospel.\we believe we're not called to follow signs and wonders but instead
the signs and wonders follow us when the gospel is preached.
we don't keep our eyes on the signs and wonders;
we keep our eyes on Jesus.

every house church pastor in china is ready to lay down his life for the gospel.
when we live this way, we'll see God do great things by His grace.