Making Spiritual Progress (Volumes 1—4): Making Spiritual Progress, #11

MAKING SPIRITUAL PROGRESS (VOLUMES 1—4)

MAKING SPIRITUAL PROGRESS

BOOK 12

ZACHARIAS TANEE FOMUM

Copyright © 2008 by Zacharias Tanee Fomum

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Unless otherwise stated, the Bible quotations in this book are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Holy Bible, Collins' Clear Type Press, 1971.

Published by

A division of the Book Ministry of Christian Missionary Fellowship International

[email protected]

CONTENTS

Preface

Making Spiritual Progress (Volume One)

Preface

1. Christian Commitment

2. Giving to the Lord

3. Loving the Lord

4. Poised for the Heights in Christ

5. Total Commitment of the Best to the Lord

6. The Responsibility to Pray

7. Daily Dynamic Encounters With God—1

Prayer

8. Daily Dynamic Encounters With God—2

Costly Obedience to the Lord

9. Rich Towards God

10. Prayer in Spiritual Warfare

11. Power for Service

Making Spiritual Progress (Volume Two)

Preface

1. Working out Your Salvation—1

2. Working out Your Salvation—2

3. Deliverance From Demons

4. The Protection Aspect of Prayer—1

5. The Protection Aspect of Prayer—2

6. Spiritual Warfare Through Prayer

7. Perfect Health: Your Inheritance

8. The Upward Call of God

Making Spiritual Progress (Volume Three)

Fellowship in the Body of Christ—One

Preface

1. The Basics of Disciple-Making—1

2. The Need For Spiritual Experience

3. The Basics of Disciple-Making—2

4. Membership in The Body of Christ—1

5. The Foundation of The Church of The Lord Jesus Christ

6. Membership in The Body of Christ—2

7. Relationships in The Body

8. Fellowship in The Body of Christ

Making Spiritual Progress (Volume Four)

Fellowship in the Body of Christ—Two

Preface

1. Fellowship in the Body of Christ—1

2. Fellowship in the Body of Christ—2

3. God Appoints in the Body of Christ

4. Fellowship in the Body of Christ—3

5. Fellowship in the Body of Christ—4

6. The Problem with Denominational Systems—1

7. The Problem with Denominational Systems—2

8. The Answer to the Problem of Denominations

9. Leadership in the Local Church

10. The Establishment of Local Churches

11. The Finances of the Local Church

12. Relationship Between Local Churches

Notes

Back Matters

PREFACE

In this comprehensive four-volume box set, Professor Zacharias Tanee Fomum draws from his exhaustive study of the Bible and a lifetime dedicated to the Lord to explore a wide range of crucial subjects, including:

Personal Spiritual Progress

Spiritual Warfare Through Prayer and Fasting

The Being and Making of Disciples

Laws of Spiritual Success

The Normal Church Life and the Local Church

Fellowship in the Body of Christ

The Challenge of Denominational Systems

And much more.

This collection comprises a total of 39 impactful messages. Volumes one and two contain teachings delivered during a church retreat in Rixheim, France, in July 1989, while volumes three and four encompass a series of messages shared during the teaching ministry of the church in Yaoundé, Cameroon, between 1985 and 1986. As these messages have been transcribed from recordings, they offer heartfelt insights rather than theological discussions.

We wholeheartedly encourage everyone to engage with this collection. It is our prayer that the Lord will grant you a profound understanding of His Body and facilitate a deeper fellowship with both Him and His people.

Copyright © 2005 by Zacharias Tanee Fomum

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Published by

A division of the Book Ministry of Christian Missionary Fellowship International

[email protected]

PREFACE

The church in Rixheim (France) invited me to teach them during their retreat in July 1989. This book is the substance of the eleven messages that they received during that retreat. Because the messages are here produced from cassette recordings of that retreat, they are not theological discussions, but words from a heart to hearts. May God bless you and speak to you as you read them.

20 th December 2006.

Zacharias Tanee Fumum

P. O. Box 6090

Yaounde – Cameroon.

1

CHRISTIAN COMMITMENT

YOU MUST HAVE A GOAL—1

Be careful what your goal is, because you will accomplish it. If your goal is nothing, you will accomplish it. That is to say, you will accomplish nothing. People get to accomplish their goals. I want you to stop now and write down the goal for which you are reading this book. Write it down. Goals are not goals unless they have been clearly spelt out and given time limits.

What if you entered a company and asked for the goal of that company, and the Director did not have it? If you found that it was written nowhere, and that he began to scratch his head for it, would you consider him serious? If you asked the President of France where France was going to, and there was no goal, would that not be terrible? For a nation going somewhere,

there must be a five-year development plan,

there must be a ten-year development plan,

there must be a fifteen-year development plan,

there must be a fifty-year development plan, etc..

If not, the government is going nowhere.

Yes, there are governments that are going nowhere, just as there are individuals who are going nowhere. They are going round and round, with greater speed, but on the same spot. They may go round and round until they get dizzy and faint. They seem to be doing so much work, but they are going nowhere. You must have a clear goal.

YOU MUST HAVE A GOAL—2

When you have written down your goal, you will start labouring to accomplish it. You will invest into your goal. You know how the world invests into their goals. Look at the Olympic athletes. They invest into their goals, and for many years. Last year when I was in the US, I read about a Russian swimmer who won a gold medal at the Olympic Games. She was picked out at the age of eight and started her training which went on for three years while she lived with her parents. At the age of eleven, she was taken away from her parents, and at twenty-three, she won the Gold Medal at the Olympics. This is investment, isn’t it? This is training, isn’t it?

This easy-going West, where everybody is relaxed, paying a minimum price, going nowhere, but wanting maximum results, is corrupt. The tendency is to put in very little and expect the maximum. Some people put very little into their marriage, and then want fabulous results. They put very little into their wife, husband or children and want high romance and a sweet life. This is corruption.

If you want the best, put in the best. If you want all, put in all. As it applies to marriage, so does it apply to our relationship with the Lord, to our profession and to what happens in the local church. What the local church or assembly is, depends on how much has been invested into it.

If the assembly matures, it is in proportion to what has been put into it. If the elders put in everything, while the others are spectators, the assembly cannot reach its goal. For the assembly to accomplish its goal, the elders and everybody in the assembly must put in their all.

Often I say to people, If you do not want to put in your all, just go away. If you have nothing to do, do not do it in the Christian life. The Christian life is not a call for people to come and do nothing. This is because the Lord Jesus calls people to a total commitment.

He saw Peter and Andrew and asked them to come and follow Him. That was the end of all their other things. Then He saw Zebedee, his children and the hired servants. He took the sons, all of them. He did not decide to be merciful to Zebedee and, thereby, call only one of his children, so that the business would continue. He called all of them. I do not know what happened later on to this Galilean fishing group. But on that day, the two eminent persons were taken away, and were not told when they would come back. They were not even given time to go and bid their mother farewell. The command rang out, Come, follow me. The Lord Jesus who is our Saviour, is still an imperialist. He calls for a total commitment.

THE NEED FOR TOTAL COMMITMENT—1

Being a Christian means entering into the hands of Somebody whose demands are total. He cannot be the Saviour without being the Lord. His Lordship means that my own plans come to an end and that I submit to Him in a total way. It means the end of my own will and a commitment to His own will. There is a price to pay in following Jesus.

From the day I say, Yes, to Him, I forgo the pursuit of my own ambitions and I make the pursuit of His own ambitions my only reason for living.

I am asking you to commit yourself absolutely to the Lord, holding nothing back. Give Him all that you are and all that you will ever be and have. Put all of it into Him. Put all of it into knowing and serving Him. It is only then that you will know the sweetness, the beauty and the glory of the Christian life.

Generally, those who complain the most are those who are not putting in everything. They want to exploit. They are those who specialise in: Jesus, give me this. Jesus, give me that. God, give me. God, give me. No! That is not what you have been called to. You have been called to give Him your all.

THE NEED FOR TOTAL COMMITMENT—2

You well know that communism was spread by literature. It became a plane that almost crashed the world through literature. They produced books in the milliards, and people read and believed them.

People believe part or all of what they read, and it influences them. It strikes us that the greatest religious printing press in the world is that of the Jehovah witnesses. They produce more literature than any other religious system in the world, and they are having results. Three years ago, in one baptismal service in New York, they baptised 7, 136 people, as the fruit of their literature evangelism. We know that their doctrine is false, but they have captured the importance of literature.

Hundreds of thousands of people are learning to read every day. What will they read? What they read will make them into what they become. Will they have sound Christian literature to read? We must wage a Christian literature war. You know what pornographic literature has done to France. You just need to infest a country with pornographic literature, and you produce an immoral people. Not to face the fact that what people read influences them, is not to be honest. What people read does influence them. In the same light, what people write influences them. What is the growing world population reading? What will they read? What they read will make or mar them permanently.

The false cults have caught the vision of the power of literature, but the church is asleep. A bit is done here and there, but where are those who have declared war, putting in everything, to give the world the right kind of literature? Will you not do something about it?

THE CHRISTIAN IS A MAN AT WAR

If I understand it clearly, the Christian is born at war. We are born into battle. We are born into the Lord Jesus Christ in battle. We continue in battle and will be translated from battle. The trumpet will blow to take us away from battle.

War puts an end to indulgence and to personal security. War calls for a war budget in everything. War calls for extreme sacrifice. War calls for forgetting the normal procedures. When war is declared, the young men are taken and compelled to go to the war-front. They are not asked, How do you feel about your wife, children, etc.? Nobody considers the fact that you are married and have children. You are conscripted and sent to war. You go and may never come back. This is as concerns worldly war.

There is another war, an eternal war. The war of the King of kings, against the devil and all his hosts. But the church is at rest, asleep. Somehow, there is a veil on the eyes of God’s children. We do not seem to know that we are at war. Christians are the only people who relax when the war is raging. This should be repented of.

I was very disturbed recently when I read that a certain denomination said that the songs of war should be removed from the hymn books. Oh brethren, as I see it, either someone is fighting for the Lord, or he is fighting against Him. The passive are fighting against Him. They are even more dangerous, because you do not know where to place them.

If, in a team of ten, there are ten people totally committed, that team has more hope than one with two hundred people where only ten are committed. The one hundred and ninety non-committed ones are enemies. That is why in the case of Gideon, God ensured that all who were not committed to war were removed before they went into battle. If he had taken the whole lot, all of them would have perished.

I am calling the believers to war - to war, first of all, with everything in their lives that stands against the Christian battle. I am asking for total consecration - spirit, soul and body. Every believer is to consecrate all that he is and will ever be, all that he possesses and will ever possess. I am asking that believers fall at the feet of the Mighty General - the Lord Jesus - and tell Him, I am a soldier and I am coming with You.

2

GIVING TO THE LORD

THE BLESSEDNESS OF GIVING

Somebody said that in a certain place, the first two words a child learns are Give me. It may be true. But it seems to describe the modern Christian. He comes to church to receive. He comes to say, God, give me. He comes to church to take. He says, Take care of me. Take care of me. No, no, no, that is exploitation. The church is a company of people who give and give and give. Why? It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Part of the reason why Africa has remained backward is because of the Give-me syndrome. They receive, receive, receive and remain poor. There is need for a revolution. We must give and give and give. The person who is always taking will not get to the deeper blessings. He will have the superficial blessings of receiving, but will always be poor.

Look at the nations that have always given and given. They are the most blessed. When we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, we come to pour our all to Him. We come to pour our all at the feet of the brethren, at the feet of the assembly, at the feet of those who have not yet heard the gospel. Our only prayer is, Lord, if I had more to give! This is what it was meant to be.

Look at the supreme example of the Lord Jesus – He gave and gave. You see it in God the Father – For God so loved the world that He gave. The Holy Spirit so loved the world that He gave. Heaven knows the language of giving, giving and giving. Those who are of the heavenly race give, give and give. They hold nothing back. It is only then that we can begin to know the joy that the Christian life was supposed to be.

When a nation gives and gives, it is blessed. When a nation takes and takes, it becomes more and more indulgent until it dies of poverty. We must look at things from God’s perspective. You must be asking, What am I presently giving? Do you even give praise to God? Ought you not to be begging God to take praise from you? It is a great privilege to give praise to the Lord. Must you be encouraged to give praise to the Lord? What have you given Him?

BEGGING TO GIVE

I was in Uganda for six years. There is a kingdom there, where the king is enormously rich. A man would come with, say, three cows to give to the king. Of course, you do not sit when you come in – you kneel down. Then you say to the king, Your unworthy servant has come to ask if you could give him joy by receiving three cows from him. The king does not look at the giver. If he accepts his gift, he will look at his servant, and the servant will in turn tell the giver that the king has accepted his gift. Then he goes away happy. If the king does not accept his gift, he will go away with his gift. He will stand up from his knees and carry his cows away. The king is immensely rich. You cannot add to his riches by your three cows.

In Christ we are dealing with someone far richer than this king in Uganda. What can you give to Him? Is God bankrupt? If you gave Him a million francs, would it make Him any richer? If you gave Him all of your heart, would it make Him any richer? If you gave Him all of your time, would it make Him any richer? What does God need? It is only our privilege to become rich by giving to Him. When God decides to accept our gift, it is not in order to make Himself rich. It is so that we might become rich. We must learn to beg Him to receive from us.

A number of the brethren who support us in the ministry send their gifts with a letter begging me to accept their money. They say, Take our earthly currency and convert it into the currency of heaven, by investing it into the ministry, into the souls of men. May our money be found in heaven on that day. We are just a transfer agency, transferring earthly money into heaven.

People must beg to give. When people bring their offerings, they must come kneeling, begging God to receive and transfer their offering into the incorruptible currency of heaven. What if the person came and just threw it there, thinking to be doing the church a favour? God is not a dumping ground.

May you see the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. May this lead you to see what a privilege it is to give to Him. Begin to beg to give to Him.

3

LOVING THE LORD

THE EXAMPLE OF MARY MAGDALENE

Let us look at the example of a woman who caught a vision of the Lord Jesus. We find it in John 20: 1-18. The story reads as follows:

"Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!’

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away,’ she said, ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’ At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus.

‘Woman,’ he said, ‘why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’ Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni’ (which means teacher.)

Jesus said, ‘Do not hold unto me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: ‘I have seen the Lord!’ And she told them that he had said these things to her."

The women went to the tomb early in the morning. Of these women, Mary Magdalene was the foremost. When you look at the list of the many women who followed the Lord, she is at the top of the list. Her love for the Lord was singular, outstanding. When names are put in the Bible, they are not put in alphabetical order. They are either put in order of spiritual importance, or in order of spiritual quality. Among the disciples, Simon Petter's name is always the first. When Peter is with John, Petter's name is always put before John’s. It is never John before Peter.

In the kingdom of God, there is a hierarchy. It is a hierarchy that is being forgotten these days, because everybody is being considered as the same. Everybody is not the same. I hope you recognise the leaders and give them the honour they deserve. I also hope the leaders know that they are not the same with the people. God is not a God of confusion. Everybody does not have the same spiritual weight and everybody does not have the same standing with God. It is folly to ignore this.

So Mary Magdalene was there, early, while it was still dark. Her heart was burning for the Lord Jesus Christ. She had loved Jesus Christ so intensely all these years. She had followed Him all these years, with an ever-growing love - a love that became a flame, an increasing flame, - such that on the resurrection morning, she could not wait for day-break. She was burning to go to the tomb early, while it was still dark. She went into the tomb to look for Him whom she loved.

Her love braved the darkness. Her love made her take the risk. There was the risk of falling into the hands of bandits, rapists, etc.. But her love gave her power over these risks. Love holds nothing back. Love pours out its all. Love mocks at the consequences.

It is this love that makes missionaries go to unknown countries, risking their lives, that they might proclaim the love of Jesus. It is this love that causes people to dare to sacrifice everything, holding nothing back. Love gives its all. Love gives the ultimate, and finally sacrifices itself, wishing there were more to give.

The one who holds something back from his loved one, either does not love, or his love has begun to grow cold. We also know that by many deeds of shame, love grows cold. When love is hot, everything is given. Nothing is held back. There is no calculating of what is given.

When Mary Magdalene got there, she saw that the stone had been rolled away. That was her first gain – she was the first to see what had happened. A woman was the first to see it. Then she ran to Simon Peter and the other disciples, and said to them, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have placed him.

His disciples, who bore those big names, were not there. Sleeping apostles! They were not the first at the tomb. These apostles, who were specially chosen, were not there. These apostles, whose names are going to be found in the eternal city, were not there. Why were they not there? Their love for the Lord Jesus was weak. It was not perfected. It was a kind of intellectual love. But Mary Magdalene could not hold back. She, a woman, was the one running to go and tell them that the Lord had been taken away.

It ought to have been Peter and John coming to say that the Lord was not there. They ought to have been the ones to spend that night there, waiting for the resurrection; so that they would see the risen Lord and announce the fact that He is risen, but they were not there. They were sleeping or doing something else. Whatever they were doing, was not the result of hearts aflame for God. It was not the result of being carried away with love for Jesus. They were theologians.

It was only when Mary Magdalene told Peter and John, that they went to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter. I am disturbed by John’s attitude here. John was the disciple whom Jesus loved, but he was not the disciple who loved Jesus the most. It is one thing to be loved by Jesus, but another thing to love Jesus. John is said to be the disciple whom Jesus loved, not the disciple who loved Jesus. What about you? He was the beloved, but he was not the lover. If he had been the lover, he would have been there.

The other disciple got there first and, because he was younger, he stood there, outside, and looked from a distance. He saw the linen lying there, but he did not go in. He did not want to take the risk to enter. Then Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen and the napkins lying there. Then the other disciple who was with him, seeing that it was safe, followed Peter into the tomb, saw, and believed.

Now, there is another interesting thing to note here. When they saw that the body of the Lord Jesus was not there, the disciples went back to their homes. They were satisfied with seeing the napkins. They were satisfied with theoretical evidence that Jesus was risen. They went back home. They did not see Jesus, but they were satisfied. Satisfied with napkins! They did not see Jesus, but were satisfied – How terrible!

Today, there are many who are satisfied with blessings. If God blesses them, that is alright. If God sends them blessings, that is alright. There are others who are interested in gifts. They want spiritual gifts. They want to be great pastors, miracle-workers, etc.. They are satisfied with the gifts. They do not seek the Giver. Their needs are such that can be met by gifts. Jesus can stay away for as long as possible, provided He sends them gifts. So long as Jesus ensures that all is well with them, they are satisfied.

BURNING LOVE FOR THE LORD JESUS

The tragedy of our generation, is that those who hunger for Jesus are on the decrease. Those who are dissatisfied with the fact that He has not yet come are on the decrease. They are happy that things are going on well. But they are not heart-broken that the heavenly Lover has not yet come. They have never spoken to Him, saying, Lord, when are You coming? Lord, come. Lord, come. They do not miss Him; so they are not able to tell Him, Lord, although we have Your blessings, and they are good, there is a certain void, that blessings cannot fill, which You alone can fill. Lord, when will You come?

Imagine a young girl who is engaged, the fiancé is away and only sends money, gifts and pictures. She is contented with the pictures, the gifts and the money but is not worried that the fiancé is away. Every year he does not come, but she is happy: more gifts come with more pictures, but he does not come, then another year, more and more gifts, more and more pictures, but not the fiancé. What would you think of the girl if she continued to say, Wonderful, wonderful? Would you consider her normal?

My fear is that the bride of Christ has become abnormal. She is satisfied with the gifts of the Lord, with the blessings of the Lord, so that she knows no pain because the Lord is not there. There is no anguish because the Lord is not there.

I want to ask you – have you ever known pain because the Lord is not there? Is there something in you that is breaking because the Lord is not there? Is there something in you which spiritual gifts and blessings cannot satisfy because Jesus is not there? Is there something that a wonderful husband, wife or children cannot satisfy, because Jesus, your Heavenly Lover, is not there?

When did you ever yearn in prayer because Jesus is not yet there? Have you ever, out of pain, asked that Jesus should come? Or, are the promises of His return there for you to calculate for mere theological theories? You want the theological theories, but for the Heavenly Lover, you have no burning. This abnormal situation has to be corrected.

We have been talking about sacrifice. Only those who have such love in their hearts for Him can make great sacrifices. Those who have such love in their hearts for Him cannot hold anything back from Him. They beg to give. They cannot keep it for themselves while His interests suffer. Their greatest interest and joy are to give. Why? Because they know to Whom they are giving.

THE EXAMPLE OF MARY MAGDALENE - 2

While the disciples were returning home, not having seen Jesus, but satisfied with the napkins, there was a person who could not go back, a person whom napkins could not satisfy, a person whom theoretical evidence could not satisfy. The Bible says,

…but Mary stood outside the tomb crying (John 20:11).

She was weeping because she wanted Jesus, but He was not there. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb, and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. Here, again, Mary was the only one who saw the angels. The disciples had gone back home. As she pressed on a step further, she saw the angles.

As people press on, they enter into deeper things with God. As they sacrifice more, more is also revealed to them. As they spend more time in His presence, they are told what the casual person does not hear. The more time you spend in His presence, the deeper the issues become.

She saw the angels and they asked, Why are you weeping? But the voice of angels could not satisfy her. The sight of angels could not satisfy her. I do not know how deep your spiritual experience is. It may be that the Lord has appeared to you. It would not be strange. Perhaps you have seen angles, or the great acts of God. We thank God for that, but they cannot replace the Lord Jesus. Angels cannot substitute for Jesus.

When asked why she was crying, Mary Magdalene replied, They have taken my Lord away, and I don’t know where they have put him. She was saying, Alive or dead, I want my Lord. At this, she turned around… Why did she turn around? Because angels could not satisfy the flame that was burning in her heart. If some of us could see angels, our nation and the whole