A Word from the pastor
Jesus said, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled (Matt 5:6 NKJV emphasis mine).
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Only three men, Peter, James and John, were allowed to follow Jesus up on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt 17:1-13).
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Why this “exclusiveness”? Why could not the other disciples have joined them? Let us take it one step further, why was there not a public invitation to this spectacular event?
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The Inner Circle
Dr. Charles Stanley, who will be 90 next year and still preaches, often says: “God does not play favourites, but He has intimates”. There is a huge difference between the two, is there not? The Bible clearly states that God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34-35; Rom 2:11).
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So, what was the reason that only the “inner circle” of the disciples was chosen to witness this extraordinary event of the Lord’s transfiguration? I think the answer is both obvious and simple – their spiritual hunger determined the degree of fellowship and measure of revelation they were able to experience.
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An Encounter with Bob Wilkin
Some years ago, in Dallas, I bumped into Dr. Robert Wilkin, the founder and director of Grace Evangelical Society. He told me that he once met Pastor Stevens in Las Vegas. He spoke very highly of him and of his encounter with our ministry.
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Dr. Bob went on to say that he especially remembered two things about Pastor Stevens. First, he knew and preached grace. Second, he did “rap sessions”. He seemed to be impressed by the idea and practice of rap sessions. So, what do “rap sessions” have to do with the disciples and their experience on The Mount of Transfiguration? A lot!
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Conference Nostalgia
Those of you who were around a few decades ago probably remember the many conferences around the world with Pastor Stevens, do you not? There was the regular service held in the conference facility. It was always followed by an “official” rap session. Perhaps half of the crowd remained for that event. During that time the word was circulating that, directly after this session, there will be another rap in a certain restaurant down the road. Some go-getters arranged so they could get there.
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The fellowship then continued for a while. When the place closed, maybe around midnight, an even smaller group came back with P. Stevens to his hotel. Another rap began in the hotel lobby with a few dozen people. Finally, if one managed to stay awake, a handful of people would walk him to his hotel room, managing to squeeze in one last question or comment, at 2.30 in the morning. I was part of that little group a few times. My point is that no one was ever turned away during the evening’s course of events. Only one’s hunger determined the intimacy of the fellowship. In other words, where I would “drop off” in the process was up to me.
Still Going Strong
I do not think that this has changed at all. Not long ago, I was on the phone with somebody. It was early in the morning my time, but almost midnight on the American East Coast. The person said they were attending a rap session (there is the “magic” word again) with Pastor Schaller in the parking lot. Thank God, there are some Bible Colleges and Seminaries, besides ours, that still teach sound doctrine. I wonder though, how many of them offer rap sessions at midnight after the last class is over at 10PM? Probably not many.
A Biblical Pattern
In the Bible, we see this pattern in Jesus’ life and ministry, do we not? First, He ministered to the crowds (Matt 5:1; Mark 8:1-8; Luke 9:19-17). Many people were only interested in Him because He was feeding them “physical bread” (John 6:26; cf. Matt 4:4). Also, the Lord seems to have had many more disciples beyond the 12 apostles. They followed Him to a certain point but eventually they said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it? (John 6:60 NKJV). The Word of God goes on to say: “From that time, many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more” (John 6: 66 NKJV). At one point we read about Him sending out the 70 disciples on a mission (Luke 10:1-12). We do not hear much about them later, do we? Then, of course, we have the 12 disciples who later became the 12 apostles (Luke 6:13). Finally, we encounter the “inner circle”, Peter, James and John, who, besides the event on the Mount of Transfiguration, also witnessed the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:37) and the Lord’s agony in Gethsemane (Matt 26:37).
Our Divine Calling
Sometimes there may be “practical limitations” based upon our unique gifting and calling in the Body of Christ. However, they never determine our freedom and ability to experience the fullness of our God-given calling – to live in unbroken fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 1:9). The overarching divine principle is that God never turns away anyone who genuinely hungers after more of Him.
Conclusion
Therefore, it is my conviction that all the disciples, yes, even all believers alive at the time, could have been together with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. Figuratively speaking, this is true also for us today – only our hunger, or perhaps I should say lack of hunger, will limit us in our walk with Him. The Lord said it so well in the Sermon on the Mount - blessed are the hungry because they will be filled.
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P. Mikael Toll
Contact: stockholm@ggwo.se
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Get to Know Lars “Lasse” Jakobsson
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It is a great honour to introduce Lars “Lasse” Jakobsson to you. Some of you have known him for a long time. Although he is originally from Växjö, I met Lasse for the first time in Karlshamn. I was doing a Bible study there in the mid 90s.
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It was obvious that he expressed a hunger for God. This hunger eventually brought him to Stockholm, where he attended our local Bible College for some time. Eventually, he moved to Helsinki, Finland, where he is active in the Greater Grace Church. Lasse is married to Eeva, a faithful body member and former missionary to Norway (yes, she had something to do with his move :)). They have two teenage boys, Marcus and Samuel. Lasse has been a friend for many years. He has also been a prayer partner for a long time. Every weekday morning, at 6.30AM, he calls me so that we can approach the throne together. Finally, Lasse has many a time rescued me from the “technology swamp”, where I tend to end up far too often. He is an IT operative in everyday life and does not hesitate to help me when I am in dire straits. Let us keep the Jakobsson family in our prayers.
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Focus on the mission field
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A few days ago, I came back in one piece from a trip to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The trip was, to say the least, an answer to prayer. For many years, Uzbekistan was a country where Christians were heavily persecuted. The believers had to be careful when and how to meet. Due to a new government, things have changed for the better. Praise be to God, after many years, despite Corona and other challenges, we were able to to launch “Uzcon”.
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What a fantastic time we had. Besides Mark and I, the only foreigners, people joined the conference from Tashkent, Samarkand, Almalyk, Akhangaran and Navoi. We meet in a beautiful place just outside of the Uzbek capital that offered everything we wanted and needed, especially peace, quietness and beautiful scenery.
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Mark, who is residing in Tashkent for the moment, and P. Toir, the pastor of the Samarkand church, planned everything in detail. I was truly blessed to work with them. Therefore, I would like to take the opportunity to say thank you. We manged to have seven meetings during the weekend plus separate sessions for men and women, youth meetings and rap sessions. Uzbek hospitality was thriving the whole weekend and to cap it all, Mark and I were given traditional Uzbek outfits to wear.
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Although some people were especially instrumental in launching this event, it was, as always, very much a body effort. With much thankfulness, I am thinking about the way people served pertaining to worship, translation, technology, food and much more – thank you all! The worship team did such a good job preparing the way for each message to be delivered. Here is a short sample.
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So, please, pray for the believers in Uzbekistan, especially the leaders, P. Toir and P. Stas. Naturally, while you are at it, please, include the other ”stans” making up Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
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For those of you who are reading the English version of the newsletter, Fredrik Näsberg is probably a new acquaintance. He has written interesting articles before, but up to this point only in Swedish. This month, he is writing about Salvation vs. Discipleship. It is crucial that we do not confuse these two words or concepts.
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All disciples are believers but not all believers are disciples. These thoughts are very much related to what I wrote under “a word from the pastor”. You can contact Fredrik for questions or comments by using the following email: nasberg11@hotmail.com
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There are many great plans for the summer. We trust that they will take place, despite the uncertain times we live in. Please, pray, plan and proceed by faith. God is faithful.
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Sermons on Youtube and Facebook
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Please contact stockholm@ggwo.se for more information about meetings.
We try to publish a sermon in Swedish and English on Youtube and Facebook every Sunday around 10:30 AM. Our Youtubeaccount.
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