When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Psalm 126:1-3
Truly the LORD has done great things for us and there is so much joy as we are seeing the restoration of God’s church! Just 4 weeks ago, many of us attended the incredible Global Leadership Conference held in Los Angeles and entitled “Chosen”. This meeting of spiritual men and women of God, seeking revival worldwide was impacting and life changing. So many commented on the humility of the preachers and how the focus on God rather than men was inspiring, an upward call and the unity of the leadership was powerful.
Then to top off the powerful conference, the Holy Spirit sent out five mission teams to the four corners of the earth: Boston, Mexico City, Paris, Orlando and San Francisco! Already the Boston church and the San Francisco church have seen new members added through placing membership and restorations while Paris and Mexico City have been blessed with new meeting locations and places for the members to live. Here in Orlando God has smiled on us greatly as four have placed membership (completing our mission team of 16 and giving us Gary from LA), one has been restored- Ray Cholard who came here looking for hope and 5 have been baptized! That is an amazing 23 disciples added to our number, growing our congregation from 30 in the remnant group to 43 with the addition of 13 team members to now 53 members in all in just 26 days! Truly God is good and is determined to build his church and rebuild when necessary!
God’s Spirit is Moving in the South! They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven… “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name…’ O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.” Nehemiah 1:3-4, 8-9, 11
With this humble and amazing prayer of Nehemiah a revival began that brought glory to God, joy to the Jewish remnant and rebuilding of what had been destroyed! The king, Artaxerxes, is moved by God to facilitate the rebuilding of Jerusalem and even defends the Israelites at times as they rebuild. Nebuchadnezzar had taken them captive to Babylon and the remnant is beginning to return because of the preaching of Jeremiah. Cyrus, king of Persia was so moved by God that he makes it a decree (law) years before to get the survivors back to Jerusalem. It is his heart to build the temple of the LORD. These remnant people are provided with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple in Jerusalem Ezra 1:2-4. This is 70 years after the exile of Nebuchadnezzar, just as was prophesied by Jeremiah! Once back in Jerusalem the remnant begins to rebuild but falls short. It will take the faith of powerful men of God with a dream on their hearts and a passionate revival to continue to restore the kingdom to what God had envisioned. Nehemiah was one of those men.
Nehemiah had to stand up to the opposition of the world and even those within the nation of Israel who had lost the dream and had abandoned the faith that honors God with a unified and powerful spiritual people worldwide. God’s plan has always been to use his people, his chosen, to evangelize the world. Every soul on earth needed to hear the message of God in that generation and in our generation the gospel message is to be proclaimed to the ends of the earth! Isaiah 49:6 and Acts 1:8 are repeated in Acts 13:47 when Paul preached, “For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” So we see the call for the Old Testament Jew and the New Testament people of God is the same- to bring salvation to the ends of the earth!
As the people of God rebuilt Jerusalem they faced opposition and disdain from their enemies and from those who wanted to take credit and yet were not willing to give their hearts. God used Nehemiah to keep unity and focus as they went about their tasks risking ridicule, danger and even their lives. This heart is what it will take in the South to build churches and rebuild the faith of many. One of my best friends, mentor and overseeing evangelist, Kip McKean has said there could be as many as 50,000 in the remnant in Florida who are in need of revival, restoration and hope. Our commitment to God and our brothers in Florida is to inspire and encourage and unify as many disciples as possible in the quest to evangelize the world. The pillar church for the South Eastern U.S. will be the Orlando church. From here we are committed to being a light and an encouragement to finish the job.
Any disciple in any church who is totally committed to the gospel message of salvation and living the life of a disciple is welcome to join us in this quest. Anyone who has drifted in their faith, fallen away completely, given in to lukewarmness or who just are out there looking for “the church you were baptized in”- we are here and we want you to come join us. Welcome home! If you are discouraged and have felt shut down and not listened to and need to be able to talk…come on over and visit with us. You will be welcomed home. We are no better than any other Christian, we have simply submitted ourselves to Jesus’ call to “give up everything you have” Luke 14:33 and so are devoted to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to breaking of bread and to prayer Acts 2:42. But far from perfect! I mean, I’m in the church…if you know what I mean!?
The Wall Must Be Completed! Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us! So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out…Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water. Nehemiah 4:19-21, 23
The Orlando church has employed six full-time staff members to get the job done. Anthony and Elizabeth Eckels who originally started the remnant group here, Mike & Chenelle Patterson our campus ministry lead couple and Helen and me as the lead evangelist and women’s ministry leader are here to serve. We have each made a commitment to be full-time for the LORD believing that the ministry is a “calling” and not a job. We will serve day and night and lay down our lives to build up the congregation here and to support any group of disciples in the Southeastern U.S. who want help, encouragement and to be unified with us as we plant churches all over this part of the country. God is already showing that “he will fight for us”! Let’s get to work together as so many are in need of a spiritual revival and to see the Lord’s church vibrant and alive once again. It is costly to seek to do this and yet we are committed to not only have the six of us on staff but also to hiring more interns who can train full-time side by side with us. So the wall was completed in the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. Nehemiah 6:15
To the Ends of the Earth! When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God Nehemiah 6:16. All the nations of the earth are starving for the word of God to be proclaimed, practiced and modeled in our life time. So many have faded away from the call of God as Jesus states, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.” Matthew 24:12. Yet he also states, “But he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:13-14. Is it your heart, your passion and the driving motivation behind all you do to get the message of Jesus Christ to all nations? This is our passion and the unifying vision behind all that we are committing to God to do in our generation. The Crown of Thorns plan is a plan to plant sold-out discipling churches in each of the twelve most influential cities in the world: Cairo, Chennai, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, Manila, Moscow, Mexico City, Paris, Santiago, Sao Paulo and Sydney. God has allowed us to already have planted five of these cities while remnant groups have started in two of these cities and the other five are waiting for a church planting.
In addition we have begun the Samaria Project, focusing on several large and influential cities in the States in order to raise up more evangelists, women’s ministry leaders, administration and Bible Talk leaders in order to send them all over the world. The need for finances as times can seem overwhelming and a block to some that could cause them to stumble in their obedience to Jesus’ plan, but we cannot allow this. The Lord has allowed us to already plant: Boston, Chicago, Eugene, Hilo, Honolulu, New York City, Orlando, Portland, Syracuse and Washington DC. From these churches we will raise the leaders and the finances to plant the rest of the cities of the world! A noble and daunting task if God were not fighting for us and if it was just a plan of man. Rather, we believe God has in fact called us to plant these cities in obedience to Jesus’ command to “make disciples of all nations” Matthew 28:18-20. In fact, Lord willing, in the summer of 2013 the Orlando church along with others in the movement will be planting the Atlanta International Christian Church! The same time next year, we as a movement plan to plant Dallas and Las Vegas as well!
Join us in our desire and plans to glorify God in these efforts. Welcome home and welcome to our inaugural service today!
Matt Sullivan
