Pastor Edgar Mayer;
For more sermons and other writings check out pastor’s homepage: http://www.lca.org.au/pastors/edgarmayer
A
God-Sized Church
In 1969 a
pastor in
But one day while he was praying in his
office, the Holy Spirit came, “Cho,
your time is up here. You must be ready to move again.” He said: “Oh, Lord, move? I already
pioneered one church, and this is my second pioneer effort. Do you want me to
pioneer again? Why should I pioneer constantly? You are choosing the wrong
person. Go to someone else.” And he
started arguing with God.
Eventually God persuaded him, saying: “You go out and build a church which will seat
10,000 people, a church that will send out at least 500 missionaries.” He replied: “Father, I can’t do
that. I’m scared to death of building a church like that.” But God said: “No, I’ve told you to
go. Now go.”
He calculated roughly with a contractor
about costs. He told him that they needed two-and-a-half million dollars to
build that size a church [and that
was 40 years ago], another half-million
to purchase the land, and an additional two-and-one-half-million to build an
adjacent apartment complex. So the pastor would need five-and-one-half million
dollars.
The contractor asked him how much money
he had. He told him he had $2,500. The contractor looked blandly at him, shook
his head, and did not even comment. Then the pastor went to a meeting of the
church’s elders and told them the plan. One elder said: “Pastor, how much money are you going to raise in America?” He
answered: “Not a penny.” Another
elder asked: “How much money can you borrow from the American Bank?”
He replied: “Not a penny.”
They said: “You are a good, genuine minister, but you’re no
businessman. You can’t build a church and apartment house like that.” The 600 deacons reacted in the same way and
the pastor became discouraged. Full of fear, he prayed: “Lord, you heard
every word the elders and deacons said. They were all in
agreement, so you’ve got to think this over again.” But in his heart Christ commanded him: “I did not ask you to
confer with your deacons and elders. I told you to go and build.”
He replied: “Lord, you know that I don’t have anything to build
with. It will take so much more money than I have now.” Then through the Holy Spirit Jesus spoke to
his heart, “What do you have that you personally could give?” In his heart the pastor knew what he was
asking, but he refused to recognize the request, saying, “Jesus, don’t
ask me to do that. I married when I was thirty years old, and throughout the
years I’ve saved my money so that I could build a beautiful home and give it to
my wife. I can’t sell that house.”
But the Lord replied, “Give what you have.” The pastor cried: “Father, it’s just
$20,000. That can’t build the church and apartment complex. They cost $5
million. The amount my house would bring could not possibly be enough.” But God said: “Sell your home and
bring that money to me in faith.” He
responded: “Oh, God, this is terrible! How can I do that?” God admonished him: “If you are ever
to believe my Word, you must first be willing to give of what you have and what
you own.”
The pastor’s wife was not pleased. She turned
pale, and then looking straight into his eyes she said, “This home is mine, not yours. Don’t you dare
touch this house. It belongs to me and to my children.
You cannot give up this house.” Yet,
the Lord nudged her. For almost a week she could not sleep, and her eyes became
blood-shot. Finally she came to her husband: “I cannot stand it any
longer. I cannot refuse what the Holy Spirit wants. I’ll give up the house.”
So she brought the title deed for the
house, and together they took that title deed and gave their home for the
construction of the church.
One day a problem came up. The Korean
government was developing a special piece of land called Yoido Island. They
were building government buildings on the land and would allow only one church
there. Church bids came from all over Korea: the Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Catholic … . They all applied and the pastor also submitted an application because
he had planned to build on that land. The man in charge looked at him and
asked: “What denomination do you belong to?” He replied: “The Assemblies of God.” “You mean that
church where they shout praises to God in such a loud and noisy way? And pray
for the sick and speak in strange tongues?” “That’s right.” He shook his head: “You know this
church is going to be right in front of the new Congress Hall. This church has
to be dignified, and your church is not. We can’t accept this application.”
The pastor was happy in his heart
because this would excuse him from building the church. He returned to God in
prayer: “Lord, you heard that,
didn’t you? We are not dignified enough to build there.” The Holy Spirit responded saying: “When
did I ask you to go and apply for a building permit?” The pastor questioned: “Am I not supposed to?” God answered: “My child, you should
not follow the path you are now walking. You must walk the other way, the way
of prayer and faith.”
So the pastor began to fast and pray.
Then in his heart the wisdom of the Holy Spirit spoke: “Go and find who is in charge of developing that
land.” To cut a long story short the
pastor visited the mother of the man in charge, prayed with her, she became
filled with the Holy Spirit and began to come to his church.
They continued praying and praying and
then the mother brought her son’s wife to the church. After listening to the
sermon she gave her heart to Christ and was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then
the son himself – the man in charge
of the building block – came to church
and he also miraculously gave his heart to God.
The next morning he walked into the
pastor’s office: “Pastor, you know
I’m in charge of the development of Yoido Island. We are permitting one Korean
church to come and build there. I wish we could bring our church there.” The pastor wanted to shout, but the Holy
Spirit would not allow him to. The Holy Spirit impressed on his heart to say “no”
but the pastor argued: “No, God,
I’ve worked so hard for this.” While
his heart was crying out to say “yes”, he replied: “No, Mr. Vice Mayor. To bring this church to Yoido
would take an enormous amount of money, and we would have to buy at least three
or four acres of land. That would cost more than five million dollars. I think
it’s impossible. To make matters worse, we are considered an undignified Pentecostal
church, and they would not even accept my application.”
He smiled and said: “I think I have a way. You pray for one week and
then I’ll come back. You can give me the answer then, because I can take care
of it quickly.” For one week the
pastor prayed, and the next week the man in charge returned to his office:
“Pastor, if you make the decision to move the church there, I’ll make all
the arrangements for you to have the choicest of land. I’ll also do all the
paper work, with my own office paying the expenses. I’ll send a man to Congress
to get all the necessary agreements, and I’ll do all the paper work for that,
too. I’ll do everything for you, and you will have the land. More than that,
I’ll make the arrangements for you to buy the land on credit from the city
government.”
Then the Holy Spirit said in the
pastor’s heart: “SHOUT!” He said: “Mr. Vice Mayor, I accept.”
The pastor thought that if you have a
small project, you will be tried in a small way; but if you have a big project,
you will be tried in a big way. Never think that your faith will only travel
through a field of roses. You will go through turbulences, by which God tests
your faith.
The dollar devaluation came, and the
contractor broke the contract. He said that they wanted to renegotiate, and he
increased the cost of building the church. Then the oil crisis came, and all
the banks closed. The pastor’s people began to lose their jobs, and even with his
total offering income per month, he could hardly meet even the interest on the
loans. Not only could he not pay his staff in the church, but he received no
salary myself.
Then the company began to sue him because
he could not pay the necessary increase. He would come to the church, and
notice after notice came, filing suit: the electric company, the sewage
company, the construction company. Papers were piled on his desk, yet he had no
money to pay any of them. He didn’t even have the money to hire his own lawyer.
He would sit behind his desk, and one by one the workers in his church began to
leave because he could not give them their salaries. Nobody wants to stay on a
sinking ship, and his was sinking fast.
Since he and his wife had sold their home
and had no place to go, he brought his family to an unfinished apartment on the
seventh floor of the unfinished apartment complex. There was no running water
and no heat, and it was very cold. Each evening he would go home to the barren
apartment, and all night they would shiver in the cold weather. They had no
food and everything seemed so dark.
He said to himself: “Yes, I made a mistake. I should never have
believed God in such a way. I should have thought in the traditional pattern. I
should not have started to walk on water. All this business about faith is a
fake. All those voices that I heard in my prayer life must have been my voices
of my own consciousness, and not from the Holy Spirit.” He began to feel sorry for himself and was
going to finish his life – commit suicide.
He said: “I’m going to cast myself down. I’m going to die.
But I don’t want to go to hell. I’ve been working for You
God all these years, and at least I should get something in return. If hell is
worse than this place, why should I go there? But I can’t live in the world
like this. I am going to commit suicide, but please accept my soul and send me
to heaven.”
The impact of that prayer was more
powerful than he realized and as he prayed, he heard a voice saying: “You are a coward. You want to cast yourself down
and become an object of ridicule for the people. Will you remain a coward? Or
are you a man of faith?” He admitted:
“Yes, I am a coward.”
Again the voice spoke: “Not only will you go to hell, but you will also
pull down many of your members who put their trust in you! You will cause a
chain reaction. Because of your cowardice they will lose their faith. They will
have broken homes and some will also commit suicide.”
These words poured into the pastor’s
heart. He slumped down, crying: “Oh,
God, then what can I do? Why won’t you let me die?” God replied: “You cannot die, for you must persevere. You must
see all the debts paid; all the people’s debts must be cleared.”
He stood up, left the seventh floor and
went to his office. He knelt down, travailing and crying. News of his desperate
state began to spread among the people. Suddenly they experienced a reawakening
of faith, including those who had already left the church. They cried: “Let’s save our preacher! Let’s save the man of
God!”
A movement began. It was a cold winter,
and they had no heat, but by the thousands the people began to flock into the
ground floor of the unfinished church, thousands also fasting and praying
through many nights.
Then God began to move. Women would cut
their long hair, bringing it to the platform to make wigs that could be sold.
One day an eighty year old woman who had no children,
no support, barely living by the help of the government, came to the platform,
crying and trembling. She brought an old banged-up rice bowl, a pair of
chopsticks and a spoon. As she stood there crying she said: “Pastor, I want to do something but have no
money. This is all I have – this old rice bowl, a pair of chopsticks and a
spoon. But I want to give it all to the Lord’s work. I can eat out of
cardboard, and I can eat with my fingers.”
The pastor’s heart was broken: “Woman, I can’t accept this. It’s all you have!
You need these to eat your everyday meal. I can’t accept it.” She broke down in tears, saying: “Wouldn’t
God accept this gift from an old dying woman? Wouldn’t he? I know that this
can’t be much help to you, but I want to give something.” Suddenly a businessman stood up and spoke:
“Pastor, I want to buy that.” And
he paid nearly $30,000 just for that old banged-up bowl, chopsticks and spoon.
This began to light a fire. People began
selling their good houses and moving to small apartments. All the debts were
cleared and today – almost 40 years
later – the church numbers about 800,000
people with countless blessings flowing from this one church into all the world – including Australia. [From David Yonggi
Cho: The Fourth Dimension, Florida 1979, p105ff.]
Reflection: Can you identify some Biblical principles which find
expression in this example story? What in this story reminds you of the Bible?
Do you find some of these principles enunciated in the Experiencing God which
we are curently studying?
1
[Slide 1] Henry
Blackaby: Experiencing God course, p116: “Whenever God involves you in His
activity, the assignment will have God-like dimensions to it.” “I have come to
the place in my life that, if the assignment I sense God is giving me is
something that I know I can handle, I know it probably is not from God.”
—
[Slide 2] Yonggi Cho’s God-sized assignment: Build
a church that seats 10,000 and costs five-and-a-half million dollars with
$2,500 and build that church on a government-reserved piece of prime property
that was closed to undignified Pentecostal churches.
—
[Slide 3] Henry
Blackaby: Experiencing God course, p116: “God told Abraham to father a nation
when Abraham had no son and Sarah was past the age to bear children [cf.
Genesis 11ff]. He told Moses to deliver the children of Israel, to cross the
Red Sea, and to provide water from a rock [cf. Exodus]. He told Gideon to
defeat the giant Midianite army with 300 men [cf. Judges 6:33; 7:1-8]. Jesus
told the disciples to feed the multitudes and to make disciples of all the
nations [cf. Matthew 14:13-21; 28:16-20]. None of these things were humanly
possible. When God’s people and the world see something happen that only God
can do, they come to know God.”
—
[Slide 4] Henry
Blackaby: Experiencing God course, p116-117: “God said: ‘I will gain glory for
myself through Pharaoh and all his army and the Egyptians will know that I am
the Lord’ (Exodus 14:4) … ‘When the Israelites saw the great power the Lord
displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust
in him’ (Exodus 14:31) … ‘The fear of God came upon all the kingdoms of the
countries when they heard how the Lord had fought against the enemies of
Israel’ (2 Chronicles 20:20) … “
—
[Slide 5] 1
Corinthians 2:3-5: “ … I came to you in weakness and
fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise
and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that
your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” Romans
15:17-19: “Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not
venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in
leading people of other nations [original: the Gentiles] to obey God by what I have
said and done – by the power of signs and miracles through the power of the
Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the
gospel of Christ.”
2
[Slide 6] Henry
Blackaby: Experiencing God course, p110: “When God tells me what He wants to do
through me, I will face a crisis of belief.” Henry Blackaby: Experiencing God
course, p112: “When God speaks, your response requires faith.”
—
[Slide 7] Yonggi Cho’s crisis of belief: No money,
no support from the church leadership, no building approval, the dollar
devaluation, the oil crisis, spiraling building costs, …
—
[Slide 8] Hebrews
11:6: “Without faith it is impossible to please God … “ God
is honoured and praised when we put our trust in him and his words. God is
honoured and praised when we turn away from any self-centredness that trusts in
one’s own resources rather than God’s.
—
2 Corinthians
5:7: “We live by faith, not by sight.” John 14:12: “Jesus said, ‘Anyone who has
faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than
these, because I am going to the Father.’” Matthew 17:20-21: “I tell you the
truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this
mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be
impossible for you.’” Isaiah 7:9: “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you
will not stand at all.”
3
[Slide 9] God
is not shy in testing the faith of his people.
—
[Slide 10] Yonggi Cho: do not say ‘yes’ even though
the property is offered to you, dollar devaluation, oil crisis, living in
abject poverty on the seventh floor of an unfinished apartment complex without
running water and with no heating, desertion by staff, thoughts of suicide, …
—
[Slide 11] Genesis
22:1-2: “Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, ‘Abraham!’ ‘Here I
am,’ he replied. Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you
love … Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will
tell you about.” Jeremiah 11:20: “ . O Lord Almighty,
you who judge righteously and test the heart and mind … “ 2
Thessalonians 2:4: “ … God, who tests our hearts.” James 1:12: “Blessed is the
man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will
receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” 1 Peter
1:6-7: “ … now for a little while you may have had to
suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of
greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be
proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is
revealed.” James 1:2-4: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face
trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops
perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and
complete, not lacking anything.”
—
[Also consider
the following passages: 2 Corinthians 1:8-9: “We do not want you to be
uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of
4
[Slide 12] God
is not shy in targeting our finances and works through sacrificial giving.
—
[Slide 13] Yonggi Cho: He replied: “Lord, you know
that I don’t have anything to build with. It will take so much more money than
I have now.” Then through the Holy Spirit Jesus spoke to his heart, “What do
you have that you personally could give?” In his heart the pastor knew what he
was asking, but he refused to recognize the request, saying, “Jesus, don’t ask
me to do that. I married when I was thirty years old, and throughout the years
I’ve saved my money so that I could build a beautiful home and give it to my
wife. I can’t sell that house.” But the Lord replied, “Give what you have.” He
cried: “Father, it’s just $20,000. That can’t build
the church and apartment complex. They cost $5 million. The amount my house
would bring could not possibly be enough.” But God said: “Sell your home and
bring that money to me with faith.” He responded: “Oh, God, this is terrible!
How can I do that?” God admonished him: “If you are ever to believe my Word,
you must first be willing to give of what you have and what you own.”
—
Jesus spent 15%
of his teaching on money and possessions and the bible has 2350 verses on money
and possessions compared to 275 on prayer, 350 on faith, and 650 on love.
—
Leviticus 27:30:
“A tithe (1/10th) of everything from the land, whether grain from
the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord.”
—
[Slide 14] Malachi
3:10: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my
house. Test me in this, says the Lord
Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour
out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”
—
Luke 6:38: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed
down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be
measured to you”
—
2 Corinthians
9:10-11: “Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also
supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your
righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that in very way so that
you can be generous on every occasion.”
—
Luke 12:22-34: “ … Do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or
about your body, what you will wear … seeks his kingdom, and these things wil
be given to you as well. Do not be afraid … Sell your possessions and give to
the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in
heaven … “
5
[Slide 15] Yonggi
Cho experienced God through his obedience and will we.
The church was built and 40 years later numbers more than 800,000 people with
streams of blessings flowing into many nations across the world.
6
[Slide 16] What
may these principles mean for Living Grace?
—
[Slide 17] We
are moving into a season where God-sized assignments are beginning to take
shape and mission activities increase.
V
E.g.: More
converts than in any other year, we have embraced the teaching on the infilling
and empowerment of the Holy Spirit with the consequence that people are
receiving the gifts of tongues, interpretation, boldness, faith in prayer, … ,
we have done two seminars on the Holy Spirit where the Holy Spirit fell on
people in power and some were filled with the Holy Spirit even for the first
time (Toowoomba and Buderim), with the movement toward a citywide church
leadership we now step up in our commitment to a citywide body of Christ that
is one in worship and mission, we step up our commitment to work towards
renewal and awakening in our denomination (Wandoan, Buderim, Hopevale),
evangelists have joined our congregation, the people of our congregation are
rising up in leadership, …
—
[Slide 18] We
will face a crisis of belief and we will be tested which needs a redoubling of
our commitment to Jesus Christ, the Word of God and each other. We need to step
up our commitment to holiness and turn away completely from sin so that the
devil will not have a foothold among us and derail our faith walk.
—
[Slide 19] We
can expect that our finances will also not be spared from the call for greater
faith and action.
—
[Slide 20] It
will be exciting to see how much God will accomplish through us. The purpose of
our lives will be God-sized and we will experience him through our obedience.