Video Transcript: The Cry For Spiritual Fathers and Mothers: Chapter 13 Fathering Your Fields
Nearly every week, and sometimes of the year, I fly out of our local airport in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Now this is over. We often fly over Lancaster County, where I live in. It's a farming area. There are many, many, many fields all over the place. I look down and see all those fields, and I realized one day that each of those fields is owned by someone. Some times they're a group of fields all part of a farm. Somebody owns those fields, that owns that farm and and some years back, I got a fresh revelation from some other men of God that really helped me understand how to be a spiritual father, spiritual mother within your field, because God gives us fields of ministry, He gives us boundaries. We can't just be a spiritual father and mother to everyone. We can't be a house church leader or a pastor to everyone, but only those within our field. And when I got this revelation, it really helped me, and here's why it helped me, because I realized when God gives me a field. God gives me authority in that field. He gives me confidence in that field. And I also realize that God gives other people fields, and I need to learn to stay out of their fields unless they invite me into their field. Now, all of this training that I've been doing for this course is part of CLI CLI Christian leaders Institute has leadership, and of course, Henry Reyenga gives leadership. It's a field that God's given him and the board that works with him. It's their field. I'm here in their field. Sometimes we invite people having a conference. Next month, we're inviting a missionary from Indonesia to come and speak at a conference. He will come into a field that I'm responsible for. Now I want to show you this in Scripture and how this applies to being a spiritual father, spiritual mother, how it applies to church planting, how it applies to house church ministry. But it's really important that we understand this. In fact, it brings great freedom to us when we really get a revel this revelation from the Scriptures. And we're going to start by looking at II Corinthians 10, II Corinthians 10:13, 14, and 15, it says, We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits. And what I want you to see as I read through this are the words that have to do with boundaries or fields. The Greek word is METRON. So he says, will not boast beyond proper limits. That's a boundary word, but we'll confine our boasting through the field another boundary word that God has assigned to us, a field that reaches, there's field again, a field that reaches even to you. So God assigns you spiritual fields. When someone submits themselves to the Lord and just to receive input from you, they trust you. That's the field that God's assigned you. God's opened that field up to you. Then the Bible says we're not going too far in our boasting, as would the case would be if we had not come to you, for we did not get as far as you. We did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. Neither do we go beyond our limits, another boundary word by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity, another boundary word, area of activity boundary words among you will greatly expand so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, for we do not want to boast about work already done in another man's territory.
Another boundary. Word, God has boundaries. You can't be a spiritual father to everyone, but those that God gives you, those within the boundaries that God sets up. Now the Greek word for field would be or sphere would be METRON, which means a measure of activity that defines the limits of one's power and influence. So God assigns us spiritual fields. I'm privileged give leadership with a group of men and women of God to DOVE international around the world, a family of churches in 20 nations of the world. I'm very blessed to do that. But you know something that is a field that's assigned to me and our team by God, He's given us that field. There are many fields. There's denominational fields. If you have a business, that's your field. My wonderful wife, Laverne, we are a team together. We are a field in our marriage field. Our kids are growing. Our kids are part of that field, because God's the one who assigns fields. There's many kinds of fields, but every field has a boundary, and so we need to make sure we understand the boundaries God's given us. How does this apply to planting house churches? How does this apply to spiritual parenting? Let me tell you, never presume to speak into another person's life unless they open up their field to you, unless they open up their boundaries to you. A relationship of trust must be built which opens the door, because their life is their field. So the first thing we have to understand is that God gives us fields, gives others fields. We need to make sure that we are staying within the fields God's given us, and that's why, I mean, I have no authority in the CLI field. I'm here. I'm here because Henry has invited me to come here to help him and the team here build this field. That's the call that God's given me for these days, that I'm putting all this on tape here internet for you. That's what I'm called to do. But see, it's I'm in another man's field. Now there's something else you must understand. Never Surrender your field to somebody else. And here's what I mean by that. Genesis 1:26 God gave Adam and Eve authority all over the world, but they surrendered their authority to the devil. Because the devil says, you know, has God said, of course, you know Adam and Eve both, you know, they sinned, and we realized they gave their authority. I mean, they were doing it all. They were naming the animals, and it was their deal the world was they're responsible take care of this planet. And what happened? Adam and Eve gave their field to the devil. Be very careful. You'll give a field God has given you to the enemy. It can easily happen. I'll give you a story in a moment. I said I could have done that, and I realized the importance of this. Now God gives you. Here's what's powerful. God gives you grace for your field. You know the Scripture says in Ephesians 4:7. But each one of us grace has been given as God has apportioned it. Same Greek word, METRON, in other words, for every METRON, every sphere, every field, every ministry, whatever God has given you, He gives you grace for it. There's things you could do you have grace for I don't have grace for things. I have grace for others. Don't have grace for you know, some people look at me funny when I say, God gave me grace to write 50 books, but to me, it wasn't a real big deal. I
had a great team people help me, and it's been years since I've started that. But I have grace for that. I can write books at airplanes and hotel rooms, and as I travel throughout the world. God give me grace I'm on. I travel, you know, over 2 million miles in United Airlines over the last, however, many years it's been and I somehow have grace to do that. But other people, they're doing things I can never do a thing. How do they do that? Because they have grace for that. God gives you grace for your field, and God gives me grace for my field. Now, the key is that we learn to stay in our field, and we stay out of other people's fields. Now it happens in prayer. For example, when we're praying for people, I meet people and they say, I'm just praying that my pastor gets the revelation that I have. That's the improper praying. You pray for your pastor that he gives you the revelation that God has for him. We're not called to control, manipulate people. I meet pastors under great pressure, because people are praying against them. They're praying that they get a revelation, some certain doctrine that they think is important, and God hasn't shown that to the senior leader. So that's what we just stay in our fields. Make sure we're careful how we pray. Make sure we're careful who, you know, who we give input to you know, if someone comes into I'm leading a conference next month, people from all over the world coming together in Maryland. It's our International Leadership Conference for dove International. I'm responsible with our team for that field. If someone comes in, into our field and says, whoa, God. Said, thus and thus, and thus and and they weren't invited into the field, we shouldn't take that serious at all. They're not responsible for the field. We're responsible for the field, but I'm not going to come and tell Henry how to run. CLI, why? It' not my field? It's his field. So we need to understand God gives fields. He gives us grace for the fields we have. And when it comes to spiritual parenting, remember that person is responsible to God more than responsible to us, and we need to be careful how we speak into into their fields. So here's what happened. I'm not the senior pastor of a local church. I'm involved in a house church, been helping start I'm involved in a Community Church, and when I'm in either of those settings, I'm not leading either of those churches. Yet, even though both of those are within the realm of dove international family of churches still, I have the same relationship with them that I have when I go into my daughter and son in law's homes and I don't tell them how to raise their children. I'm there. I'm their parent. I love them. They ask for advice. I do, but only if I'm asked. Why? Because it's their field. It's not my field. And when I was senior pastor for about 15, nearly 16 years, and turned it over or the local church I was part of, we turned it over to other leadership. And it was interesting, because I was still part of that church, and the next six months, about six months later, people come to me and they say, Well, how do you feel about the changes going on in the church? My response was, it doesn't matter how I feel. If you have questions, you go talk of leadership. It's no longer a field I'm responsible for now. Why is that important? It's important because if
you're in a church now and you're called to start a house church in the future, you honor the field you're in now, eventually, you have your own field, a field that God's given you, then you'll have responsibility for that. You'll still get input, but you're responsible for God for that field, and within the boundaries that God has established for that field. So make sure you don't plow in your son or daughter's field. You know, when I was a young man and I was on the family farm, I would never dream about getting up in the middle of the night, taking the farm tractor and plowing my neighbor's field. Why not we say, of course, you wouldn't. That'd be stupid. That's right, because it's his field. But people do that in the church all the time. They'll come in and say, well, the Lord said this for this church, and they have no business doing that because it's not their field. So we need to recognize the fields that God has assigned be responsible in our field, but at the same time, we need to be stay out of other people's fields. Now here's why this is important. There have been some crazy things that have happened in the body of Christ that they called being spiritual parents. There were different movements. One was called a discipleship movement. Started out great with some good intentions. This is way back in the 1960s maybe some of the 1970s and God was moving. 1000s were coming together, having house fellowships all over the place, but there were some problems. And the leaders, the former leaders that have talked to me personally about that, if I got one of the main leaders, told me, said, Larry, the things you're doing today, you and Dove International and others are doing today. That's what we wanted to do in a healthy way. But he said we got off track. But why? Because they didn't understand these fields of ministries. In fact, they made what I would call an unholy covenant with one another. Let me explain to you what I mean by an unholy covenant. There are holy covenants that God has called us to make. A holy covenant is an agreement we make with God, or agreement we make with somebody else. In the covenant I have with Jesus, I will always serve Him as a holy covenant. It's forever. The covenant I have with my wife, Laverne. We are married to death do its part. It's a holy covenant, the covenant I have with the body of Christ. I will love the body of Christ, serve the body of Christ. It's a holy covenant. But there are unholy covenants. An unholy covenant is made with a person or group that hinders a person from obeying the Holy Spirit. So if someone is a spiritual son to you or a spiritual daughter, you tell and they feel like they should leave the relationship, go to somebody else. You say, Oh, no, no, you need to stay with me. That's an unholy covenant, and that's why some movements have gone by the wayside. God Himself had to really destroy them. I've told men that I work with him. God calls you to start another movement different than Dove International. My commitment is to help you do that. I would love to work with them my whole life, but I wouldn't do that. You know, I say that because we got to be careful with boundaries and we don't keep people bound. Now, the response to the team I work with is we don't want to do that. We love
serving together. It's a great joy to serve together, but I've learned if we hang on to people, even people in our church, in our house church, we hang on to people God himself might have to take them out. And if we release people often, they want to come because people have this heart that says, if you are going to serve me and help me, I want to walk with you. I want to be involved a field that you leading. James 4:13-15 explains how we need to release people and be careful, we should not make unholy covenants. See if you say, I'm going to work with somebody my whole life in a house church, that's an unholy covenant. What if the Holy Spirit says you shouldn't? See if you say, Well, I'm called to work again in this ministry, it's going to be for life, and I'm deciding for life what I wouldn't do that. And yes, we should make commitments, but we need to evaluate after a few years or a year, or five years or whatever, but to say, a whole life? No, that's an unholy covenant. Here's what the scripture says in James 4. Now listen to you who say, today or tomorrow, we'll go into this or that city, spend a year there, carry on in business and make money. You don't even know what will happen tomorrow. What's your life? You're a mist that appears for a little while then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if it's the Lord's will, we will live do this or that when it comes to something happening in the future? Is it the Lord's will? Now, I expect our work with our team our whole lives, and I think they expect that, but we're doing it not because we have to. We're doing that because we want to, because God has blessed us, blessed that, and God has given us that field of ministry together. Psalm 16:5-6, says, The Lord assigns us our fields. Lord, you assign me my portion, my cup. You made my lot secure. The boundary lines fall for me unpleasant places. Surely I have a delightful inheritance. And you know, you stay in your field, you plant a house church, you have a field, and you stay there, and you don't quit, and you obey God, and you go through different seasons. In this ministry, you'll find God will bless your field. He gives you grace for your field. That God's the one who determines our fields. Paul, for example, was called to the Gentiles, as you know, and Peter was called to the Jews. That doesn't make sense to my brain, because Peter grew up with the Sanhedrin. I'm sorry, Paul grew up with the Sanhedrin that he's the one who would be with the Jews. Fact, he thought he was going to be with the Jews for a while. And Peter is a dirty fisherman. He's with the Jews. How did Paul recognize he wasn't called the Jews? Well, you read Acts 17,18, 19, 20, 21 see all the problems he was going through. And he gets stoned so many times. One day he says, I'm going to the Gentiles. I'm not saying when it's hard, you should always leave, but I am saying there's grace for your field. God will give you grace if you're called to another field, God will give you grace to go from one field to another field. It's really important that we understand the importance of fields of ministry be respect. Responsible in your present field. If you're in someone else's field now, you're helping a local church, helping in a house church, you're there somebody else responsible for the field. Bless that.
Encourage them. See them. Strengthen. See the grace of God poured out. And because what you do there, what you sow there, you will reap in the future when God gives you your own field. David is the classic example. David was in Saul's
field. Saul was demon possessed. He was throwing javelins at David, and yet David refused to do something that would somehow dishonor Saul. He could have had him killed a few times, but he didn't, and he simply guard his heart. But then the time came when Saul was gone, David said, now it's time, because he knew he was called to lead that field. It was timing. He knew Samuel had anointed him. It was timing. But then when the time came, he then he then many all David's mighty men gathered together with them, and then it was time for him to take the field. So I just give you one story in closing this session, when I was a pastor, we had a prophet who came to our city from the nation of news of, I'm sorry, the nation of Australia. And I had met him, but I read about him in the newspaper. He called me one day, and he said, Larry, I got a word from God for you. And I said, Well, come and share with us and our team. And he came, he said, there's a certain day God has shown me. And one of the buildings that you have at that time, we had a lot of people and house fellowships all coming together in these larger buildings. And he said, what we're going to do? He says, God is going to do some amazing things. And he says, I just want to let you know about it. I'm going to come I'm going to help you. We said, well, we're going to pray, and we're checking our calendar, and perhaps this is the Lord. So we checked our calendar, and we realized that we already had rented that building that weekend out to another Christian ministry, and because of integrity, we didn't want to change that. So I simply we sent me. I got back to this prophet, and I said, my brother, we saw and we're open to doing this, but we can't do it at this time because of this other ministry. Excuse me. So he said, Okay. Next day, he called me nine in the morning, and he spoke a curse over me, a curse over our ministry, curse over our church. I was devastated. I thought he said, You have not obeyed the prophet, and you will not prosper. And I didn't know what to do. I went to a place I used canceled my meetings. I went to a place where I go to pray out in near where I live. Said, God, what are we doing? All I got from God was, bring your leaders together, and I'll show you. That night, I think I heard 15 or 20 of our leaders came together, and we, first of all, we joined hands. We said, Lord, we know you're not into cursing your people. You're into blessing your people. We break that curse in Jesus name. Second thing we did is I knew of a missionary from Australia, and I said, I'm going to contact him and find out about this prophet. And so I contacted him. A day later. He got back. He said, This man has been splitting churches up and down the coast of Australia. So I know who that is. I know this the pastor of the church that he was part of. And so I called this prophet and had him come in and meet with some of our leaders. And I said, this is what I learned. This is what you done. You need to repent. This is none of God. It's not right. And he showed very little signs of
repentance, and he moved on from there. Today, he's not involved in any kind of ministry that I know of, any place in the world that I'm aware of. But here's what scared me, God had given us a responsibility. He'd given us a field, and it scared me because I thought I may not be as spiritual as he is, and I could have given the field over to somebody else. So I want to challenge and I praise God. We did not. I want to challenge you that when God gives you a field, he makes you responsible, gives you grace for your field. Stay out of other people's fields, unless you're invited in. But be responsible for the field that God's given you because he's given you wisdom and grace for your field if you're leading a house church, that's a field God's given you. And so be responsible for the field that he's given you