The Local Church –
Humble before God – But High Profile in the world
By Malcolm E Baker

The local church, the group of believers in any given locality, is the main catalyst for the Light of Jesus Christ to shine out and influence the particular area and society that they are set in. They are the “city set on a hill”. (Mt 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.).

The church should be seen as the people of Good News and the people with Good News. A people proclaiming Good News to a lost and dying world; Good news to a destructive and crumbling society; Good news to the sick and dying. The impact of the light of Christ will be greater than the darkness of sin and Satan in all its devious, polluting gangrenous stench as the people of God live and move in the power of His Word.

Christians should be active in and supportive of their local group of believers, working together for the light to shine brightly. This light begins in the powerhouse prayer gathering; praying together; seeking the Lord together. We cannot move in the power of the Holy Spirit if we are a prayerless church. We cannot do the things of God if we are not meeting together in prayer. God’s grace is released upon a praying people.

Prayer is the beginning and ending of the Christian life. It is breathing back to God the spirit that He breathes into Man. Your spirit grows and your relationship with God deepens through the activity of prayer. Our prayers mostly take on the form of words. Whilst our words are necessary it is not the whole. Prayer also includes the baring and abandoning of our spirit to God. When we pray in this manner it causes a stir in the spirits and inner man of those present as well as touching God Himself. It is a deeper communion and communication with the Almighty God. Although we are in a meeting with other believers, in that moment of prayer one is conscious of God alone. This is spirit to Spirit, to the Father through the Son. We learn to pray like this in the fire of affliction. I can think of no other way. We can go so far in learning to pray, but unless we are prepared to allow the Holy Spirit to take us into and through affliction, there are things concerning God and prayer that we will never learn or know. It is also necessary to spend much time in Scripture in the presence of God.

One grave danger I want to mention at this time is that of Christians living and operating alone. They can be wide open to being influenced by the deceiving and deluding spirits of Satan. Pride is one weapon Satan uses to keep believers apart. Another is fear. Both are powerful, potent obstacles to moving in the Spirit. When caged in by these animals of darkness, believers are open to becoming poor, blind and naked. There are Christians that are not in regular fellowship because they have not found a believing church. Such people have a deep faith and long to be in fellowship with others who seek to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. If they will seek the Lord calling on His Name to lead them to a group of people, church or fellowship, He will do it. He will lead them to people that take His Name and teaching seriously and that are seeking to follow Him.

The Christian needs to be involved in the things of God within the local congregation of believers where that is possible. The local congregation needs then to be affecting the society and world around it. The local church also needs to be a sending and supporting church. It should be involved in the Great commission to take the Gospel into all the world.

I am moving on now to mentioning a particular group of people. I am thinking in terms of Israel now and praying for and bringing the Gospel to the Jews. The church in the West can do this by giving prayer support to those believing Jews and congregations already placed in Israel by the Lord. Jesus is building His Church in Israel today. We can give financial support. How do we go about this? By building relationships with the believers in the local congregations in Israel. We should seek to understand them. We should seek to know the conditions they are living and witnessing in. We do not need to send missionaries because the believers in Israel are very passionate about spreading the Gospel. We could be a sending church in this instance in the way of support and encouragement.

Let me share just one or two instances with you concerning the believers in Israel. One pastor in Israel, in the town of Arad, the father of four children has been unwell for a couple of weeks. He is pressured by the responsibilities of the congregation, functioning as the pastor, teacher, youth leader. He is overloaded and tired.

Then his seven-year-old son had an accident and spent the night in hospital.

The religious Jews in the area persecute and disturb the believers in many ways and are often violent.

A group of “Haredim” (religious orthodox) tried to break up a group of believers meeting at a chess club. They had just begun a meal together when a busload of the “Goor” (The Goor Haredim are one stream of ultra-orthodox Jews) group arrived, shouting and screaming. The tables the believers were eating at had been put outside because the weather was pleasant. They began hitting a young Arab believer, the mother of four with their black hats. They couldn’t hit her with their hands because to touch the believers would have meant them becoming defiled. The Arab family, living in a Jewish town have had the tyres on their car slashed and have received threats on a numerous occasions.

They hit another believer with a bag of foul smelling stuff. The woman in question said it was vile. This is just a portion of the report I received, and this kind of thing is repeated regularly against believers. (We should not understand from this that all orthodox or ultra orthodox Jews behave in this manner). The police appear to turn a blind eye to these happenings and are somewhat lethargic in their response to curb the troubles.

The believers suffer this kind of pressure as well as terrorist killing, maiming and attacks that the people have to face daily. Believers are standing firm in such circumstances.

A Druze family in another part of Israel have become believers in Yeshua. The father is on fire for the Lord and shares the Gospel everywhere. He and his family are severely persecuted for following Yehsua. The children suffer and are persecuted in their school situation. Believers in Israel can be very hard pressed and need encouragement and support.

What an impact it would make if the Church in the West got behind and supported such congregations. If we were to send financial support and resources to the pastors in Israel so that the congregations there were then able to give out into the community to those in need. Good works could go with the good words of the Gospel. People witnessing the kind of treatment believers are receiving, and then seeing those same believers reaching out and giving to the community could bring a great response to the Gospel. The believers are already in place. This is the Lord’s Gideon’s army of today. They are the ones who can tell the Good News that you can’t keep a good God down! You can’t put Him down and you can’t keep Him down – He rose from the dead – He is alive for evermore, Amen!

What is our response – read on and forget it? If we will get behind our brothers and give them support they in turn can bless their communities. They can reach out to the poor. They can bring Good News that the God of Israel lives and cares for them.

Another congregation, this time in Karmiel in the Galilee are building and reaching out into the community with the Gospel. The pastor of Kehilat ha-dereh (The Way) is Yossi Ovadia. Yossi and his congregation are busy at this time with a new building project. I would like to see the Church in the West being high profile in their giving and supporting of such congregations in Israel. We could make it a top priority to help the indigenous believers in Israel establish themselves in their communities and in the hearts and mind of government, that they are there to stay and that they are there to do good works in the Name of Yeshua Ha Meshiach.

Kehilat ha-derech employed an Arab architect – a brother in the Lord. Jew and Arab working together under the love of God and by the grace given by the Lord Jesus Christ. What a testimony to the world! For about 7 years the congregation met in a large room of a rented house. They have outgrown the building, which is really wonderful, and had to search for new premises. Their search took them to a "hanger" in the eastern industrial area of Karmiel. It is a pre-cast concrete building, 300 sq.mt. and about 6 mt. high, with metal roll over doors, concrete floor and opposing windows on the north and south faces about 4 mt from the ground level.

They plan to build an upper story gallery over half the area. This will divide up into offices and classrooms, once they have approval from the fire department.

They are considering that it might be good to begin a morning coffee time each day for workers in the industrial area to call in and have a good cup of coffee with their sandwiches. Believers would be on hand so that workers could also receive advice or other help. It would need careful planning as this may be looked upon as a missionary outreach, which is a non-starter in Israeli society.

This is a call for the local churches in the West to become involved with and support the local congregations in Israel. I have shared a little concerning the pressures believers face day by day with you, and you can see a little about how they are working and building in Israel to share their faith more effectively.

There are ministries in Israel today that will not identify with the indigenous believers. They are afraid of losing their standing with the Government and authorities. Will the Lord allow this to continue, or will He move to reveal what is hidden?

If you would like to let the Kehilat ha-derech congregation know that you are praying for them and would like to help them to make their light shine. If you would like to send them financial support for their building project and outreach, write in to us first and we will forward the address to you. (Please do not send money or cheques in to us).

God chose to choose the Jews. He chose the Jews to spread the Good News. It was the Jews in the beginning of the Church and it will be the Jews at the end of the age.

Ro 11:12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring! Ro 11:13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry Ro 11:14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. Ro 11:15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? Source: Pointers Magazine July 2005