The Sunday Mail
Many of you have started your prayer and fasting. Some are focused on their 2016 resolutions. We hope that partnership is one of your to-do activities — a critical element that Bishop John Musadziruma says the body of Christ needs to pay special attention to, this year.
Bishop Musadziruma is the founder of Miracle Life Centre Church with branches in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique.
He also founded the Pastors Support Network (PSN), whose mission is to “help servants of God fulfil their ministries”.
An entrepreneur, Bishop Musadziruma also writes Christian books and articles and his latest publication is “The Making of a Champion”.
Below, are highlights from his sermon on the power of partnership.
The Bible says “two are better than one”.
It doesn’t matter how anointed you are, if you don’t have people around you, to work with you, to be partners with you, then that anointing is going to fizzle out.
You may preach and raise the dead, and still not make a lot of impact because you are running the race alone. So, there is a new corporate culture. We are valuing partnership.
Paul, speaking in Philippians 1:3-5, says: “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now”.
Paul says, he is always praying with joy because these people were special to him. Why? Because of their “partnership” in the spreading of the Good News. The King James Version says because of your “fellowship”.
He says, you Philippians were my partners when I went all over to preach the gospel. Because of that, every time he thinks of them, he is full of joy.
There is just something about people standing with you. Even when he was in prison, he said, he was confident that He who began a good work in them, would “carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”.
Andrew Wommack says, “The partners Paul was talking about were systematic, deliberate givers.”
What is partnership?
Partnership is the ability to accomplish more together, than we can accomplish alone. Partnership recognises that a team is stronger than a lone individual.
Mother Theresa says, “You can do what I cannot do. I can do what you cannot do. Together we can combine and do great things, because we can combine what I can’t do, which you can. And what I can do, which you can’t. And when we combine that, we can do great things.”
The Bible says, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” We usually interpret that to mean that when we are joyful, then we are strong. But what it means is that when we make God joyful, we become strong. And the best way we can make
God joyful is to preach Jesus without measure.So, if there is anything you can put in your brethren, it is in the salvation of souls, in bringing joy to heaven. In other words, when there is joy in heaven, we become stronger. Can you imagine what God will do for us if His heart is joyful?
Bishop Musadziruma challenged people to partner with ministries: “not as occasional partners: but decide to be a partner as an individual, as an organisation, even a church”.
“As one author wrote: ‘It is better to have one person working with you than to have three people working for you’, because when one works with you, they become a partner. There is ownership. They will not just pay lip-service.
His main text was Luke 5:1-11.
“Here is a blessing that is a boat sinking and net breaking miracle. Jesus, standing by the lake of Gennesaret wants to preach the Gospel, but He needed a vessel to reach these people. So, He saw two ships, docked by the sea shore. One of the owners was Simon Peter and He asked him to use his ship to preach.
“So, the ship is the vessel. And the ship is a structured object that carries the man of God who carries the anointing. The anointing needs to be in a structured vessel.
“And for Jesus, he borrowed it from the corporate world — Peter’s business. The structure that Peter was using to run his business, that’s the one Jesus used to preach His message. But Peter was not working alone. He had business partners, who also had their own ships.
“Jesus approached one partner and said, ‘May I use your boat?’ So, Jesus partnered with Peter to use his boat. He used Peter’s boat, time and investment to do the work of God. When He had finished preaching the word of God, He said, now is payback time.
“Let us have our own partnerships for the word of God. There is no one who partners with the Lord, and with the word of God who will not have payback time. There is no one who gives a prophet a cup of water who does not receive a prophetic encounter.
“Many people think that a prophetic reward is a crown of glory in heaven. When you give the prophet a cup of water, you are entitled to a prophetic reward, not from heaven, but they must speak a declaration into your life.
“Every time you go and support the work of God, payback time will come. (See prophet Elisha’s encounter with the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4:8-37.)
“One day I got surprised while reading John 11. The Bible says Lazarus of Bethany fell sick and died. It then says, ‘This Mary, whose brother now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped His feet with her hair.’
“Why would the Bible need to qualify that it’s this Mary who anointed Jesus with oil whose brother Lazarus was sick? There was no reason why Lazarus should rise from the dead. Jesus did not do it for Lazarus. He did it for that Mary of Bethany who anointed Him in preparation for His burial.
“When Martha said, ‘Lord if you had been here, Lazarus would not have died,’ Jesus said he would rise again, but when Mary repeated exactly the same statement, He grieved in His spirit, because Martha and Mary are not the same. One is that Mary of Bethany!
“There is also Tabitha, the woman well-known in the church for alms and when she died, Peter raised her from the dead. (Acts 9:36-43)
“Tabitha never preached a sermon. She did not raise anybody from the dead. She was just doing good things — partnering and giving. But when payback came, they called the man of God, Peter who raised her from the dead.”
Bishop Musadziruma concluded: “You cannot stand with God and He will not do something. It doesn’t matter whether it’s against convention, whether it’s in season or out of season, but when it’s payback time, it doesn’t respect seasons, it doesn’t respect the economy,. . .”.
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