FEATURE ARTICLE

Bishop (Dr) David IbelemeMonday, November 24, 2014
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St. Ann's, Port of Spain, Trinidad, West Indies

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CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF DR. MYLES MUNROE

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he memory of the just is blessed - Proverbs 10:7. So, I want to use this opportunity to join the church world in celebrating the life of Dr. Myles Munroe who went home to be with the Lord recently on Sunday 9th Nov. 2014. The death of Dr. Munroe has been described and rightly so, by many, as a great loss to the\ body of Christ because we will not as a physical fact connect with him again on a personal note. Apostle Paul indicated when he was in a straight betwixt two (whether to die or to stay alive) and he indicated that being physically alive was more needful for the believers in Philippi. However, he finished this discourse by stating emphatically that it was far better to die physically and be with the Lord - Philippians 1:20-26.

The Scriptures tell us that the death of a saint is precious in the sight of the Lord - Psalms 116:15. Physical death for many of us seemingly marks the end of someone's existence and we often view it as ceasing to exist, but as Apostle Paul pointed out, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, which is far better - 2 Corinthians 5:6-8; Philippians 1:23. Dr. Munroe and the other eight people on that fatal flight are now absent from the body and present with the Lord and as sad as it might feel to us, it is a far better place or state to be in.

Some might ask why such a tragic death?
There are those that try to impute sin on someone because they died tragically. They often advance the premise that dying tragically is an evidence of God's judgment against someone. Jesus Christ clearly warns us against this mind-set whilst at the same time stating that tragic death is not the primary indication of judgment against someone - Luke 13:1-5.

May I remind you that the Lord Jesus Christ, John the Baptist and most of the early church founding Apostles all died tragically. Most of them were martyred through beheadings (like Paul), crucifixions (like Peter), stoned (like Stephen) and being fed to lions.

Some actually chose not to be delivered, they rejected it and decided rather to go through gruesome sufferings - Hebrews 11:35-39. Truth is that we are not privy to everything that happens on the earth - Deuteronomy 29:29. Neither will anything be revealed to us as a priority unless that thing has a redemptive value. As sad and confusing as it seems, we should therefore, not focus our attention on the manner of death but on the consequences of death. We have been encouraged by the apostle Paul to begin our demonstration of dominion over death by not sorrowing like those who have no hope, but to comfort one another with the words highlighting the glorious hope that we have in Christ Jesus - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

Lessons To Learn
What can we learn from the tragic crash which ended the physical life of Dr. Myles Munroe, his wife, his associate Pastor Dr. Richard Pinder, the youth Pastor (Manifest) and his pregnant wife and 5 year old child, the two pilots and the other brother? I'd like to point out three things that we can learn.

Firstly, that physical life is not the zenith of living.
As long as the Lord tarries physical life is limited by the enemy called death. We therefore must live a life that is not limited to this physical plane. Jesus said that we should not lay up treasures here on earth based on our physical life but rather to lay it up in heaven where nothing can corrupt it. Our life should primarily consist on how rich we are towards God - Luke 12:15-21. Hence, physical death is inevitable and can only be conquered by true living, which is spiritual and not physical. There is nothing material that one acquires that one can remain with eternally. Every material thing belongs to the category of things that are defined as temporal because they can be seen, hence they cannot be useful in eternity according to the Scriptures - 2 Corinthians 4:17-18.

The Apostle Paul reminds us that we brought nothing into this physical world (seeing we were born naked) and we cannot carry anything out of it (we shall leave naked, despite the clothing our loved ones put on us) - 1 Timothy 6:7. No matter how long we live on earth, it cannot be compared with eternity, which is waiting at the end of physical life

Secondly, death is not a respecter of persons.
This tragic event claimed the lives of four generations namely: the older (Dr. Munroe's), the youth pastor's generation, the "youth pastor's son's" generation and the generation yet unborn (the youth pastor's unborn child). No matter who you are you will die, unless the Lord tarries. Whether, you are old young or even unborn, death can visit you. The poor die and so does the rich. Your wealth might help you delay death but it cannot stop you from dying. You cannot stop death from occurring once the Lord tarries. Sinners die and so do the righteous.

This is why we must remain "rapturable". Prepare for your death so you can live forever above death and not be limited by it in anyway. The way you live today will determine how you live forever. Those who do not prepare for death are not guaranteed peace in the age beyond physical death.

Thirdly, we can live hopefully in the face of death.
Death is an enemy - 1 Corinthians 15:26. It is the product of the fall of man. If man never fell there would be no death. The resulting state of sadness and mourning that follows clearly shows us that it is not of God. Jesus stated that death is the work of the enemy or the thief and that He (Jesus Christ) came that we might have life and have it more abundantly - John 10:10. We are hereby instructed that whilst death presents us with one of the greatest temptations to feel hopeless, we cannot afford to lose hope. Though death presents us with the seeming feeling of closure or an end, we can look beyond it and see the beginning of greater things. Death, we are told (in the Bible) cannot separate us from the love of God. The Scriptures further tell us that we are more than conquerors through this love because it never fails - Romans 8:35-39; 1 Corinthians 13:8. This means that this seeming tragic event cannot and will not leave us with a bitter taste. The gates of hell will not and cannot not, prevail against the church of the living God - Matthew 16:18.

The Bible says that there is life to him that is joined to the living - Ecclesiastes 9:4. This is often interpreted to mean once there is life there is hope, giving the impression that once death occurs there is no hope. This is however not the case because there are many who are alive and live hopelessly on earth. For these people it cannot be true that once there is life there is hope. This Bible verse (Ecclesiastes 9:4) does not mean that once death occurs there is no hope. In the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament, the expression "joined to the living" here means to choose to live or to embrace life. As long as one chooses to embrace life there is hope for that person irrespective of the circumstances that they face. This means that in the face of death we can still be joined to the living. We can draw strength from life in order to overcome the death presented to us by our circumstances. We can begin even now to enjoy the reign or dominion which God has already determined for us over death - 1 Corinthians 15:54-58.

This means that we can therefore also embrace the life that those nine lived (and even the life that the unborn child represents) and draw strength from that. The death of Dr. Munroe and the other eight (plus one) on that flight marks the beginning of greater things in the body. The body of Christ will not be worse off for it but better.

One of the keys to being better is to tap into the legacy of those individuals using what we've learnt from them and building on them so that our lives can be better. In this regard the next couple of days, weeks, months and years should be focused on studying and embracing the things we've learnt from Dr. Munroe over the years. We should also draw from things learnt from the other victims of the crash. We can even learn from what the unborn child represents to us.

Apart from Dr. Munroe's warm, friendly and approachable personality, I personally see three major messages from his ministry

1) The Essence and Importance of Purpose
He exposed the church world to a better and deeper understanding of the concept of purpose. He helped us to better understand the subject with a view to us fulfilling God's purpose and mandate for our lives. He showed us that purpose is the most important thing because it defines the essence of a thing and outlines the reason for its existence. It is in fact the motive behind the motion and gives us the end or destiny of something. Some of the major statements he made in this regard include "the greatest tragedy in life is not death but a life without a purpose" and "where purpose is not known abuse is inevitable".

2) Leadership Development.
Dr. Munroe was strong in building leaders. He once said "every human has the instinct and capacity for leadership, but most do not have the courage or will to cultivate it." He therefore went about doing what he could to cultivate the leadership potential in those he ministered to. He often spoke about dying empty, meaning that one should not only impact lives but impart into them that which the Lord has bestowed on you. He believed that if you can develop leaders then you can continue to live after you have died. This is so true as we can testify that even now he lives on through the multitude of leaders that he has raised, yours truly being one of them. You cannot talk about success unless there is a successor. Hence, success without a successor is failure. Dr. Munroe even prophesied recently before his death that the Lord was in process of raising new leadership that will take the church to her next level.

3) Kingdom Development and advancement.
Dr. Munroe spent a lot of his final years in ministry emphasizing the importance of kingdom living. He encouraged believers to go beyond the concept of viewing themselves simply as church members and begin to see themselves as citizens of a kingdom; the Kingdom of God. This was to help us better take advantage of our vantage position in Christ. It was also to help believer's complement each other rather than compete with one another.

The memory of the just is blessed - Proverbs 10:7.
To be blessed is to be empowered to succeed. Hence, remembering the just, releases to us the power that we need to advance in life. In this regard remembering Dr. Munroe carries an empowering grace to help us succeed in life. This is because remembering him connects us to the anointing that he operated in and the only result of that will be success.

This means that we cannot afford to keep mourning the death of Dr. Munroe like those who have no hope. Rather, we should celebrate his life and embrace the legacy of faith that he left us for the advancement of God's kingdom and purpose on planet earth. The church will never be in a worse state because of the death of Dr. Munroe, rather it will indeed be better because the memory of the just is blessed. More importantly this is also because the church is being built by the Lord Jesus Christ and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it - Matthew 16:18.

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