COMMUNICATING THE COMPLETE MESSAGE
I have had the opportunity to give training to about twelve thousand pastors since establishing this leadership ministry fourteen years ago. I think the area where this has made the biggest difference is in India. I have been to India five times and helped train over 3,000 pastors there. The church that hosted the conferences in northern India is New Life Assembly. It is huge. They average over 46,000 people in worship each Sunday.
One of the challenges is the language. It’s essential to use an interpreter since I don’t speak their language. Some of the pastors spoke some English. You can tell the ones who knew English because whenever I said something funny, you could see smiles and hear laughter before it was interpreted into their language.
The message of Easter that every believer interprets every day is extremely important. Easter is about the resurrection of Jesus and the hope for eternal life He gives to each of us. It’s a message that we need to know clearly and communicate completely.
Easter sends a clear message to the world that God is always victorious. Seemingly defeated on Friday when Jesus died, the victory cry came on Sunday morning when He was raised from the dead! The whole message is that Jesus is alive. He lives today. Get the whole message and communicate it to the people around you.
Years ago, England had a crucial battle with France at Waterloo. People in England were waiting for some news of the results of that battle. The news would be brought into the English Channel by a ship and sent by semaphore to spell out the message to the people on land.
Finally, one morning, the message was sent. It read WELLINGTON DEFEATED. Then a heavy fog came in, and that was all the message that the people saw. WELLINGTON DEFEATED.
There was a solemn dirge of defeat that covered London. People were in despair. Their hopes were dashed. Wellington had been defeated. They envisioned a terrible future of defeat.
After a few hours, the fog began to clear, and the message was continuing to be sent. WELLINGTON DEFEATED, but then they noticed that there were two more words that came across the water. The message read THE ENEMY. The complete message was WELLINGTON DEFEATED THE ENEMY.
Wild joy–hilarious joy–joy like England had never experienced broke out when the complete message was seen. There was dancing and rejoicing. The people of England had a future. Wellington had defeated the enemy!
Many people today allow foggy thinking, foggy circumstances, and foggy experiences to blot out the complete message. The message is very clear and simple. God has defeated the enemy! Jesus is alive! He lives! No need to live a defeated life! The final score of victory has been posted!
The complete message is the same for India, Montgomery, and every part of the world. Every believer is a minister who proclaims the complete message!
He is risen!
