Vessels of Honor International Ministries was founded in Luanshya Zambia by
Evangelist Kabaso Sydney. It is an Evangelistic Mobile ministry it is common refereed to us the church on the wheels. In that it is not a static church or stationed building but rather a dynamic church, it reaches out to the unreached souls with the power of the word of God.
In February 2012, Vessels of Honour Ministries in Kabwe Zambia have launched "Church on the Wheels programme" that is aimed at reaching out to families,individuals in different institutions.Bicycles have been targeted to be used to reach out to distant places with good news.
In this article I will try to explain three important things on what we believe is the church on the wheels and its though this three principles we shall utilize to reach places that need us.
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| Carrying the power of God on the wheels. |
A good study of the first century church shows a lot of progress that
the apostles made. In spite of the fact that they were introducing an
entirely new system over an already existing old one, it is evident that
they prospered. 3000 men gave their lives to the Lord the first day
Peter preached. Later 5000 believed in Christ and the Lord continued to
add to their number day by day those who were being saved. Both Jews and
Gentiles were obedient to the faith. The church blossomed.
It was not a stagnant church. It was not a lukewarm church. It was a
vibrant and dynamic church - always on the wheels. They were able to
withstand, by the power of God, the challenges of their days and had
something they kept for the subsequent generations.
Now, why and how did they succeed? What made them so prosperous? What
did the apostles do that made them record such tremendous results? In
trying to answer these questions, we shall consider the 7 things the
apostolic church committed themselves to. For us to have similar
results, we are expected to do what the apostles did.
• A church committed to God: The first thing we discover is that
the members of the church were not just committed to the church
religious practices. They were committed to God and His glory. They had
vibrant personal relationships with the Lord, thus they were able to
co-exist in love in their fellowships. Individual members having a
personal knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, through
repentance to God and faith in Jesus Christ, is the only basis or
foundation for a church having a cooperate relationship with the Lord.
Organizational structures are useless, no matter how religious, if the
members do not know God and pursue His glory. Our horizontal
relationship with our fellow humans cannot be good when our vertical
relationship with God has problems and vice versa. If a church is filled
with people who do not know the Lord personally, it is going to be very
difficult for it to pursue the glory of God. We find that in the early
church, the people were totally sold out to God Himself. When they were
imprisoned and beaten, they rejoiced and counted it as a privilege to
suffer for the Lord. They were even ready to die if that was God’s will
for them. It was a church made up of people that knew their God. No
wonder they did exploits.
• A church committed to the Great Commission: Also the early
church was committed to the preaching and spreading of the gospel.
Having received the charge from the Lord to preach the Good News in
Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and the Gentile Nations of the world, they
were all out to obey their Master. (See Mat.28:19 Mark 16:15). Peter
was a married fisherman but he was involved. Barnabas was a rich man and
yet he obeyed the commission. Luke was a Medical Doctor but became a
missionary physician. Philemon and Onesiphorous were wealthy people and
yet were committed to missions. Timothy was a young man and yet preached
the gospel. Priscilla and Aquila was a couple that supported missions
and gave out their house for fellowship. Throughout the Book of Acts, we
see the early church on fire for the Lord. Men from different walks of
life were committed to the preaching of the gospel. One thing is clear,
whenever a church is distracted and is not committed to the vision of
preaching the gospel and the expansion of the Kingdom, the devil will
commit her with trivial issues, quarrels, division and politics.
Furthermore, the gospel was not just preached to fulfill all
righteousness, it was preached with power and demonstration of the
Spirit. (See 1 Thess.1:5; 1 Cor.1:24; Col.1:27 etc). It is a sin for a
church to lack the power of God or to preach the gospel of God as if it
has no power.
• A Church Committed to prayer: We equally notice that the church
was a praying church. Jesus once threw away the money-changers out of
the temple telling them that the temple was supposed to be a house of
prayer. (Lk.19:45,46). The church is not a place where emphasis on money
and earthly success should take upper hand. It must be made up of a
people who have both private and cooperate altars – people that pray as
individuals and together as a church. The apostles once decided on
issues of priority saying “it is not right that we should give up
preaching the word of God to serve tables…we will devote ourselves to
prayer” (Acts 6:2, 4a. Also see Acts 12:5,12; 3:1; 16:13 etc). Paul gave
testimonies of what his prayer life and that of those who worked with
him was like. (See 2 Thess.1:11,12; 1 Thess.1:2,3; Col.4:12; 1:3,4;
Eph.1:16-23 etc). In line with the Lord’s admonition in Luke 18:1, “Men
ought always to pray and not to faint”, Paul urged the Thessalonians to
“pray without ceasing”. (1 Thess.5:16). The early church was a praying
church and members were involved. No wonder they experienced the power
of prayer.
• A church committed to the Word of God: In Acts 6:2-4 as we
noted above, another issue of priority the apostles decided was the Word
of God. They said, “we will devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry
of God’s Word”. Christians were not lazy to study doctrines (See Acts
2:42). They were committed to both teaching and exhorting each other in
their homes, house fellowships and in the temple. Many of the people
following the apostles were determined to confirm what they were being
taught by themselves like the Boreans (Acts 17:10-12).
Members of the
church were not slothful as we see today in most of our churches. They
were not swallowing hook line and sinker what the preachers tell them.
They were both individually and as a church committed to the study and
obedience to the Word of God. Paul instructed Timothy, “Till I come,
attend to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching, to teaching”.
(1 Tim.4:13).
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| The Church committed to prayer |
There are plausible words of wisdom, the so-called
‘prosperity’ gospel, and peddlers of God’s word (2 Cor.2:17).
Unfortunately, none of these can save a man from hell nor change his
eternal destiny. The apostles majored on the things that matter. 1
Cor.2:12; 1:23-25. They preached the full gospel. If the Bible is not
the sole guide for faith and practice for a church and its members,
man-made traditions and vested interests will dominate and they will not
be able to accomplish anything tangible for God.
It is in the word we believe as Vessels of Honour Ministries and through this word we shall continue to minister the power of the word to the dying world.Every month we have targeted to be having an outreach and buying more bicycles and Bibles to be distributed to individuals who fail to afford a bible.Will need your support as we reach out to the unreached places in Zambia and beyond.
Website:http://sydneykabaso.wordpress.com
