The Divine Order

"Here is the divine order, first, conviction, second, repentance, third, forgiveness, and woe be to the man who transposes this order!" - Catherine Booth (Practical Religion)

Catherine Booth, founder of The Salvation Army, amazing prophetess is speaking of preaching the gospel. She says that there is an order which the sinner must go through before they are saved. In our preaching we need to aim for the sinner to be convicted of their sin firstly. That is they need to know of their sin, they need to know it is wrong and an offense to God. Secondly, we are to aim for the sinner to repent, that is turn around from one way to another, some scholars call it a complete change of mind. Then thirdly we are to preach forgiveness.

Bonhoffer spoke of cheap grace. He spoke that if we do not really know what we are saved from we will have this amazing grace but wont understand it, and therefore wont value it.

If a man sped through a red light and was to recive a fine. He did not realise that he had done this. Then another man came and paid the fine and told the man, the driver would be thankful for a moment. But because they did not know they had even got the ticket would quickly forget this random act of kindness.

However, if the man knew he had a fine to pay. One he could not afford, if it was to cause this person grief, and kept him up at night worrying about what to do next. Then a man came and paid it for him, how much more greatful would he be? Would he not accept that fine with thanksgiving, even calling this kind person a saviour? I can see the man saying, "I owe you big time!"

The same is with Salvation. If we do not know that we are sinners bound for hell because of our own sinfulness; If we do not know that the wages of sin is death, then we are given the great information that God has paid it for us, we will have a cheap grace. A grace that we do not understand and therefore value.

Catherine Booth understood this. She recognised the importance of conviction, repentance then forgiveness. It bears better disciples, disciples that will last. On the other hand if we preach these things out of order, if we jump the gun, then we will ultimately, even though we dont mean to, risk the salvation of those we are preaching to. Be wise with how you lead people to Christ, I have been convicted of this in the past, and since turning to this order, the conviction has come from God and true repentance has come! Lets preach the gospel!

Holy or Hoax?

There has always been stories of people being raised from the dead. In fact there is a book called, ""Saints Who Raised the Dead" which has "True Stories of 400 Resurrection Miracles" written by Fr. Albert J. Hebert, S.M. Currently there are tons of reports of miracles of people being raised from the dead. Here are a few:

Heidi Baker, under her ministry thousands have been raised from the dead
David Hogan, under his ministry (Freedom Ministries Mexico) there have been over 400 people raised
Reinhard Bonnke, under his ministry people have been raised
Scott Holtz ministry has raised people from the dead
A friend of mines friend does mission trips to remote Aboriginal towns and under this ministry people have been raised from the dead
Teresa Neumann from breaking Christian News reported on February 21st 2008 of people being raised from the dead in India leading to mass conversions
There are over 600 videos on youtube on people being raised from the dead
In some places in PNG where my friends have ministered raising the dead is so common that they (communities of PNG people) pray for the dead to be raised at every funeral! Its simply what they do! Its their culture!
There have been reports of African Salvation Army Officers (who are still in big appointments) have raised the dead too.
Someone mentioned to me that "Onfire" printed an article of someone raising from the dead

So, heres the question. "Has every person who has ever claimed someone has raised from the dead in their ministry/experience been a false prophet?"

If we say yes. 1) That would mean alot, and i mean alot of lying. It would mean that the worlds Christian Spiritual leaders are all liars. It would mean that all these people are lying for no reason. This view does not make sense! These Christian leaders who love people, who give their life away for people, are lying... What a stupid comment. And fame? Are they after fame? Why would they elaborate on dead people rising from the dead? It does not make sense.

2) Perhaps they would say something like, "They weren't really dead." Where does this question come from? It comes from a heart that does not want to believe. People in 3rd world countries know when people are dead. They live amongst the dead, it is regular for them to be amongst the dead. So when they say they're dead, they're dead. And even if they got it wrong 9 out of 10 times that still means at least hundreds have been raised...

Those two statements are terrible. They are fueled by doubt, unbelief and a very negative view on Christian leadership.

If we say "No" they are not all hoaxes, then we need to admit that atleast some people have been raised from the dead.

Why can people not accept the fact that people have been raised from the dead? As for wanting death certificates, if you have been raised from the dead you dont need one! So, of course theres no death certificate! Thats because they came back to life!!! (also, there are people who have death certificates and display them proudly when they testify...)

The fact of the matter is if you say people dont get raised from the dead then you are saying that pretty much all Christian leaders throughout time have been liars or stupid. And I am not game to say that. That view in my opinion comes from a view that lacks any faith whatsoever, it lacks discernment, it lacks respect, it lacks an understanding of Jesus command for us, me and you, to "raise the dead."

doubt is evil

It is almost trendy to doubt in the church today. I hear people say a little bit of doubt is good. i hear people justifying their doubt all the time. It didnt sit well with me so I looked up doubt in the Bible and this is what I came up with...

“Why do you doubt?”
Matthew 14:31
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

Luke 24:38
He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?”

Jesus is amazed that people would doubt. There is no need for it. Once we see who God is, the just, holy, compassionate, all powerful God who can do anything why would you doubt? Jesus does not see doubt as good, rather as unbelievable!

Do not doubt
John 20:27
Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

Romans 14:23
But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

James 1:6
But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

The opposite of doubt is faith. Here Jesus is telling us to stop doubting and to have faith. If you have doubts, stop it, instead have faith. Perhaps doubt comes from the enemy. I’ve seen this in my own experience. The enemy starts telling lies, we accept them and doubt creeps in. Stop believing the devil and start believing in the Creator/Saviour of the world. God wants us to live a life of faith, not doubt.

Faith leads to the miraculous
Matthew 21:21and Mark 11:23
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done.

If we do not doubt and have faith we will see the miraculous happen! Hallelujah! I can witness to this fact! Step out in faith, don’t just say you have faith, step out in it and you will see God do awesome things!

So in closing, doubt may be trendy in some churches. But is a lie from the devil. It is not ok to doubt. The solution to doubt is to look at who God is, and put your faith in Him. The solution is to listen to what God says, read your Bible and believe. And when we start believing we will see the miraculous happen!

The knowing too much sin

Living in the Western World we know so much about injustice. We know 30,000 kids die each night, we know theyre dieing of preventable diseases, we know people are in slavery, people are being bought and sold as sex slaves, we know people get abused, we know people are treated unfairly and working in sweat shops. We know there is war and famine, and extreme poverty. We know that even in our own towns there is injustice. And for most of us, including me we are involved in the sin of knowing too much. Let me explain...

Heidi Baker found out about the poverty and kids homes needing urgent help in Mozambique and simply said, "Lets go." The rest is history with thousands of churches starting up, thousands of kids homes, huge amounts of kids getting adopted, people being raised from the dead and thousands and thousands of people getting saved. All because she heard and responded.

We are living in the sin of knowing too much and not doing anything about it. I am included. I am convicted of it and am working out what I need to do to get out of this sin. But at the end of the day theres a far greater reason for this though, and it has nothing to do with me. It has to do with "others." Am I willing to love others? What about you?

Yesterday I didnt write down about Matthew 25 because I saw it as simply loving people, but we in the western world do not get it. We see it, yet do nothing. You ask, "What am I called to do?" Try this on for size, "Feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, invite strangers in, clothe those who need clothes, look after the sick, visit the prisoners. However you treat people is how you are treating God, so treat people like the king of Kings."

What am I called to do?

I get so many people asking me the same question. I have asked question and I am sure you have asked this question. And its funny because we all expect something magical, but the answer is right in front of our eyes...

"What am I called to do?"

The answer to this is so so easy, it seems too easy, and people see the answer then keep asking more and more not realizing it is that simple. Im going to use 3 passages of Scripture that shows what everyone is called to do. (note, this is different from called to be... but thats a question for another day)

“ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and withall your strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30

“As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:7-8)

And He continues in Matthew "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28)

So here is what God wants YOU to do. Love God, love others, heal the sick, raise the dead, drive out demons, freely give, make disciples, teach people to obey God.

So you no longer need to ask the question "What does God want me to do." He has already told you. Start doing these things right where you are and see where that leads you. Its not necessarily about specifics e.g should I be a doctor or a lawyer or a pastor, officer etc, its about obeying God. Be a doctor, be a lawyer, officer, whatever, but whatever you do "Love God, love others, heal the sick, raise the dead, drive out demons, freely give, make disciples, teach people to obey God."

Easter camp healing revival!

Jesus is risen from the dead, He is alive and well and changing peoples lives! Easter Camp was amazing, people saved, set free, making further commitments and healed! A healing revival broke out! All glory to God. He is the great healer. Its not people who heal but God. But He wants us to ask Him to heal people and use the authority He has given us to pray for the sick. The basic thing I did was teach youth how to pray. I didnt pray for many youth, instead I got the youth to pray. Check out how awesome God is and how He will use simple old you...

Saturday morning we went out and did some evangelism. Straight away we had people get saved! Hallelujah! Youth were learning how to evangelise and were progressing really well!

1) Then me and Chris prayed for a Christian man with a slipped disk. We laid hands and prayed for healing. In his words,"It is more free!"

2) Then on the way home sharing this story J___ asked if we could pray for his wrist which had been sprained. I got C____ to pray for him, on the second time he was completely healed!

3) Once we got back to the camp he ran and told everyone. L___ heard and asked if God would heal his shin splints. M____ prayed for him and he was healed.

4) M___ who just prayed, had pierced her nose by herself and it was pussy and flakey and quite sore. "Would God heal my nose?" We spoke about it then got A___ to pray for it. It was completely healed!

5) R____ saw this happening and asked to pray for her shoulder. L___ (shin splints) prayed and her shoulder was healed.

6) In the corner we saw D____ who had sprained her ankle and had to sit out the day because she couldn't walk. We went up and asked J____ who was sitting with her to pray. D____ move her foot, "Oh my gosh!" I told her to take off her bandage, she took it off then jumped up and down and started running around the camp telling people how GOD HEALED her!

7) We went outside from here and S___ came up and heard about L____ shin splints being healed and asked if we could pray for his own shin splints. M____ prayed and he was healed.

8) T____ had a sore throat and got S___ to pray for her and she was healed.

9) J____ came up to see what all the commotion was and told us in his croaky voice he didn't believe. We all prayed for him and he spoke. His friend started laughing saying "You've been healed! Youve been healed!" His voice was back to normal! Then J____ started saying he wishes he hadn't been healed. (He didnt want to commit his life to God at this stage...) and as soon as he said that his voice went broken again...

10) In the morning C____ asked me what the go was with healing. Some of the youth that she brought were healed and all the stuff had made a huge difference in their faith. She then said her ankle was sore. You guessed it, M____ prayed for it and then I prayed for it and it was healed, not completely but more than enough to make life more comfortable.

11) C____ (a different one) had spent time in the pool and his eyes were red as and very itchy. I prayed to the God who heals and He took away the pain and itchiness!

12) Then we were testifying at dinner time and C____ (a different one again) asked if I could heal him. I replied "No. But God can heal you!" After dinner him and 3 mates came to learn about this heling stuff. We sat down and praye for C___'s hamstring. He wanted it healed because he loves to shuffle (dance) and the injury stopped it from happening. B____ prayed and it was healed!He got up and danced! Then we prayed for C___'s bruise it didnt go down but when we poked it he couldnt feel it!

13) The C___ prayed for H____'s foot which got healed.

14) H____ prayed for A___'s ankle and it was healed. And I saw them write on the prayer wall later that night, "Thank you God for healing C____, H____ and me."

These are just the ones I was involved in. I also heard of K___'s wrist who the doctors said would take 6 weeks to get better and it was healed and she was doing hand stands to show off what GOD HAD DONE! And this after only two weeks! Other people were healed of tummy bugs and all sorts of things!

These signs were done and built faith, lead people to Christ and empowered youth to be a Jesus follower in their schools and work places!

My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power!
1 Corinthians 2:4

Exciting news everyone!

Me and Sarah are getting married! We got engaged last night! I popped the question while we were praying on a hill overlooking Melbourne...

The phone has not stopped ringing and Sarah has not stopped screaming!lol :) Very exciting times!!!

Thanks everyone for all the congrats! We will have an engagement party but we haven't decided when yet, will let you know soon!
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The other week I blogged that I led a kid to Christ. The other day he told me he now has more friends at school! Praise God. Gods changing his character.
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I heard some whispers that some people were challenged by Sunday nights sermon that they approached their corps officers to ask about Soldiership! nice! What about you? If you attend a salvo church why aren't you a soldier? Step up. If you're not a salvo, consider a life of holiness, set apart for God for the salvation of the world! What a vision! Check us out sometime...
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Easter Camp starts tomorrow! So wont be able to blog. Please remember us in your prayers! On one of the days (sat i think) we are doing some evangelism! Also, I'm praying my tooth will be healed in Jesus name while on camp! Imagine the great testimony that is going to be! If you dont believe it start building your faith, I'm trying and its fun! Now Im waiting on the miracle...

Some Nazarites...

Samuel was set apart for God so that people could once again hear God.
Samson was set apart for God for the freedom of the Israelites.
John the Baptist, or JB as I call him was set apart to prepare the way for the new Kingdom.

Are you willing to be set apart to help others hear God, have freedom and enter the Kingdom of God?
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I was able to minister to a breakfast club kid today. We had bacon and eggs for the last brekie club this term. He said "Pigs are ugly, but they're good on the inside." Referring to the bacon. It was an easy opportunity for me to say "God looks at the heart!" Shifting normal conversations into spiritual ones is not hard, you just need to be on the look out, be ready, and be prepared to take a risk!
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I watched "Cocaine Cowboys" last night. Its a documentary about the Miami drug scene in the 70s-80s. Some of the guys were earning more than a million dollars a week. So many people made money that when the cops came in and the drug trade started coming down businesses were going bankrupt because the drug dealers weren't spending their money anymore.

It made me think, what sort of impact are Christians having on the world? What would happen if we all left? How much of a difference are we really making?

Last night was SWEET! Meeting at Macelod Corps went off! Sam McIver got sworn in as a soldier! She had a cool story of how God sometimes visits her in dreams and she was taken up into heaven to have a chat!!! Very cool... Congrats sam! God bless and sanctify her commitment to God for the salvation of the world!

then throughout the worship time before the meeting there was counted to be at least 8 people receiving prayer down the front and in their seats. Heaps of people were praying, Sarah who was worship leading was seeing visions of the Holy Spirit! It was great. Then I preached, then I gave some words of knowledge and people got healed! Hallelujah! Peoples lives changed, they really did, we saw the change. God is good!
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Please pray for my tooth. Its snapped in half but I believe Gods gonna heal it! If you want to pray for me, ask that God would give me more and more faith to receive this miracle!
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Heres a couple of points from my sermon:
Nazarite Vows (Numbers 6:1-21) had 3 expectaions,

1) Cant eat or drink anything from the vine: symbol of SACRIFICE. Are you willing to sacrifice to change the world?

2) Cant cut your hair: Symbol of humility, are you willing to be humiliated to change the world?

3) No dead bodies: Symbol of being set apart from impurity. Are you willing to be set apart to change the world?

More on this later...

Today was awesome!

The gospel was preached.
The sick were healed.
Demons were kicked out!
Hallelujah!

Day 2 of Jesus culture for me, and it was great. Heres there thing, We are the light of the world. Darkness doesn't have an option when light is around. So why is their still darkness? Its because Christians dont realize the responsibility they have. So they empower Christians to light revivals by healing the sick, preaching the gospel and booting out demons!

Today we got words of knowledge then went to the shops to find out what they meant. One of the words I had was "Chocolate moose" and another was a vision of a bent back straightening. We went to the supermarket to find the moose, and while I was looking this lady walked past all bent over, so I talked to her.

I then prayed for her and asked how her back was. She stretched it and it was partly better. So we prayed again! Not completely healed yet, but pray for her complete healing!

I wanted to say "God is doing a new thing" but Hes not. Hes been doing this forever. Lets join in.

This is what Jesus says to YOU and ME: "As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' 8Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,^[b]drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give." What is your answer?

Ok, Im really tired but just had to note down a few things from today...

1) Met with this guy Rory today. Great evangelist. In charge of 3 churches, 1 in narre warren, 1 in geelong and 1 in china! He prayed and prophesied over me! We had a great time. Also his mate who was there has raised a few people from the dead!

Rory has been all fired up since he got saved because no one ever told him about Jesus. It took a divine miracle for something to happen. Shame on us church!

2) Went to JESUS CULTURE tonight! WOW! Theyre a movement of revivalists from the u.s.a and they packed a powerful punchtonight. We are the light of the world, shouldnt be hidden... Darkness has no say when light comes, it HAS to go. So, why is there still so much darkness? Because we Christians DONT GET OUT THERE!

You can change all this and come along to 171 Rook st in vermont at 930 am tomorrow (sat) theyre teaching how to heal the sick then we're going to do it! Tell everyone you know, if you get a chance to read this b4 then!

3) Jesus is coming back! Wohoo!

I was thinking today. If we had the best training, the best resources, the best ideas, the best teachers, the best opportunities to evangelise how many people do you think you yourself could get saved in one year?

Lets say 1 person each month if you were at the top of your game.

Thats 12 people a year.

Now, lets say you have been saved for 3 years.
That means you could have led 36 people to Christ.

5 years = 60 people

10 = 120 people

20 = 240 people

50 = 600 people

Now your saying thats way too many. I dont agree, but lets halve that.

5 years = 30 people

10 = 60 people

20 = 120 people

50 = 300 people

Now imagine if half of your converts did the same thing! We could have a revival on our hands! Instead, many of our churches are not growing by convert growth at all! Mostly because the soldiers, members etc dont evangelise! This is sad. Lets repent of the hundreds and thousands of people who we have let slip into the pits of hell by our apathetic, selfish lifestyles. God have mercy! Lord, awaken our zealous aggressive nature we have as a movement of God!

Ive been going ok with the evangelism challenge. I havent been very good at getting to 5 every day but I have been evangelising every day. I have been searching for people to talk to about Jesus. I have found tracts to be really really helpful.

This gets me thinking, why does The Salvation Army, an organisation with a motto "The world for God", not have tracts? If The Salvation Army is trying to get the world saved then shouldnt we be leading the way in Evangelism teaching, resourcing, equipping and empowering?

Im not just talking tracts now, I mean, TV, internet, clothes and merchandise, evangelism resources, evangelism training kits. We really should be leading the way, but we're not. Where are our goals? Where is has the vision of "The world for God" gone?

Dont frett though. This years "Go For Souls" is to be held in September is shaping up to be HUGE! We're getting BIG time speakers who lead scores of people to Christ. Church planters, crusade evangelists, personal/friendship evangelists, tract designers etc! We're hoping to launch the worlds leading evangelism resourcing website and a new Christian resource that encourages sharing faith straight away!

We're hoping to get all sorts of merchandise out, evangelism kits, training resources, cds, dvds. We're planning mission trip crusades to country corps and possibly overseas.

We're trying to raise up a generation of zealous, fire filled, vision orientated evangelists that will lead millions of people to Christ and usher in the coming of the King! Thats right the return of Christ! A big vision, but definately possible!

The revolution is well on its way!

Who are you evangelising to today? Go For Souls!

Need help? Call me, email me, get in touch, and we'll do it together! We'll even orgainse speakers.trainers to teach evangelism to your corps before the conference! We need to get on it, lets do it!

BLOOD AND FIRE

A mate of mine, one of my youth who got saved last year has started up a Bible study group at his school. First week back (had one last year...lol) was yesterday and he had 31 youth rock up! Not bad hey? That makes it one of our corps largest congregations! And he is in year 11. So, who cares how old someone is, if they have the Holy Spirit give them jobs to do and see God bless it! Hallelujah! Heres to all the people who will get saved and filled with the Holy Spirit there!
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Our drop in center is going well but we're in desperate need for female leaders! Yesterday was our 3rd time doing in and we've gone from having 5-6 people to having 17 youth there yesterday. We haven't advertised, its all been from word of mouth amongst the youth. Now to find ways of presenting the gospel in a fun easy yet meaningful way! If you know any female leaders who could help out, please let me know. If you dont know any, please pray for some!
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And this from national nine news (ninemsn.com)

Five charged over Sydney sex slavery

Friday Mar 7 07:46 AEDT

A group of South Korean women were falsely lured to Australia and forced to work up to 20 hours a day in a Sydney brothel, police say.

Federal Police officers raided six inner-Sydney properties on Thursday, arresting three women and two men allegedly linked to a sex trafficking syndicate worth more than $3 million a year.

"Police will allege the syndicate recruited women in Korea by deceiving them about the conditions under which they would be employed and then organised their entry into Australia under false pretences," the Australian Federal Police said in a statement.

A 46-year-old woman from Greenacre in south-west Sydney, a 42-year-old woman from Hornsby in north-western Sydney and 35-year-old Korean woman are due to appear in Central Local Court.

They are charged with offences including people trafficking, deceptively recruiting for sexual services, dealing in the proceeds of crime worth more than $1 million, and arranging a non-genuine marriage.

Two Sydney men, aged 23 and 28, have been charged with knowingly conducting a business involving the sexual servitude of others and will appear in court at a later date.

Evangelism and the dead being raised!

Ive been trying to uphold my decision to have 5 evangelistic conversations each day and Ive been going a bit up and down. First day was 5, then 4, then 0 (bad day) then 6... We'll see how I go today! As for conversions only the one on Sunday but praise God for that one hey? He called me and told me he now has more friends at school!

A couple of points. 1) If I arent getting many saved after 15 conversations then by you having less conversations how much more time will it take? 2) I have been planting alot of seeds, its good to remember that not all evangelism is about the conversion point... 3) Having to talk to 5 people has pushed me just out of my comfort zone, Ive had to go to the shops real late at night so I can find people to talk to. 4) "More friends at school" because God has done a work in his life! Praise God!
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Check out this article. Its about people being raised from the dead in India! A reporter saw it all happen and is shocked! So are the hindu villages who are now saying that Jesus is the TRUE GOD! How cool is that?

Some who read this will say "but they're in India, theres not enough proof." But I say to them there was plenty of proof on that night, western journalist, massive crowd, mum, the hindus who have now converted must have seen some proof, and the hindus who are still trying to work out what happend and are coming to see the man who was raised from the dead, and the description of one of the dead people. So, either this is a massive hoax or it happend.

If you dont believe this one happend then I say to you you need faith. Infact, if anyone does not believe in God raising from the dead even in todays world I say "get some faith." Thats all there is to it. The scripture says He does, Scripture says we are commanded to. Theres nothing more to it other than faith! You say why doesnt it happen? I say it does happen and it happens with faith! God, help our faith be stronger!

I read in the Year Book (1993 i think...) that Bangladesh had had some terrible floods. All the halls got flooded and they had nearly no where to go for their weekend meetings... Nearly nowhere. They hooked up a bunch of boats together and held meetings from the boats! No corps missed their meeting because they had them in boats! Love it!
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Theres a movie coming out soon (already out in the states) that is sure to rattle a few cages. "EXPELLED: NO INTELLIGENCE ALLOWED" Is Ben Steins journey of finding out that evolution is a load of rubbish and that if you disagree with it you get expelled... Heres a trailor, and make sure you check out the website: http://www.getexpelled.com


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Yesterday we talked about praying for the lost... Heres the first one explained a bit:

"And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

2 corinthians 4:3-4


Unbelievers need revelation not just information. They dont see the same Jesus as we do. Information is head stuff, revelation affects the head but starts in the heart. People need to repent, metanoia- which doesnt mean turn around, it means to have a change of mind.


The word blinded (tuphloo) means to dull the intellect. The word tupho means smoke., where we get the idea of a smoke screen. The word comes from the word tuphoo which is used for being high minded, proud, and so tie all the words together and we get a puffed up type of image.


The problem people have with accepting Christ is that they have to humble themselves and let Christ be there boss. If youre proud this wont happen!


Therefore we need to do some Spiritual warfare praying asking God to break down these barriers... Now, Im not doing justice to Sheets work but im trying to give you something to look at, but for a more complete look buy his book!lol

Here are some things to pray for when trying to lead some one to Christ... All are Biblical and from "Intercessory Prayer"... I'll show you all of them now but talk about each of them in the coming days because they can get get pretty theological...

• That God would lift the veil (2 Corinthians 10:4)
• For the Holy Spirit to hover over and protect them
• For Godly people to come into their pathway each day
• To cast down anything that would exalt itself against the knowledge of God
• To take down all known strongholds (thought patterns, religions, opinions etc)
• To bind satan from taking them captive
• That the armor of God would be placed on them

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The Kingdom of heaven is like... There was a ship with a captain. Hes crew loved the captain heaps and heaps. They adored him. They sung his praises, in fact they would often get together and talk about how great their captain was. One day the captain saw a ship sinking, he yelled out to his crew, "Quick, let down the lifeboats, lets go and save them!" But the crew were too happy talking to each other about the captain and how good he was, and they never let down the lifeboats, and the other ship sunk and the people died.
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The Kingdom of heaven is like... A policeman was having a hard time at work. It was quiet at the station but there was lots of people breaking the law. He thought to himself, what can I do to make things better? So he started meeting with other policemen. He got a Policeman from America to come out and speak at the police station. But still no criminals came in. He thought, it must be because the place isnt clean enough! So he cleaned the bars of the jail and mopped the floor! But still no one came in! The second policeman however, went out into the dark alley ways, into the clubs and pubs, bikie bars and brothels. He even went over seas to find the worst. Which of these two policemen is the wisest?
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"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

Luke 19:10

Hoping to get more regular with blog...

Yesterday was a BIG day!

1) Started talking to one of the young guys whose been coming to church. He followed us into the prayer room and listened to us pray. I tried to get him involved by teaching him how to pray. I soon found out he didn't know Jesus or what being saved meant.

I asked him, have you ever lied? He replied yes. Which makes you a? Liar he replied... I went through a few questions like that and then said at judgment day will God find you guilty or nor guilty? He knew he was guilty and the Holy Spirit came with so much conviction, he was almost in tears. Then I had the privlege of leading him to Christ! I know this is just the beginning of his walk with God but he came and asked for a bible at the end of the meeting. God, please continue to teach, encourage and challenge him!


2) A few weeks ago someone prophesied that leaders would start popping up and coming to me to help with the youth. Yesterday in the car on the way to church I told God, "I have faith, help my unbelief." And I found 2 potential leaders at church! Hallelujah! Please pray that we will obey God when taking/knocking back leaders!

3) I have committed myself to having no less than 5 evangelistic conversations each day. I realize I wont always get this many and that I have some more growing to do to make this a habit, but please pray as I really want to make this a big part of my life!

4) Dutch Sheets book "Intercessory Prayer" is amazing! I'll blog on that tomorrow God willing...

5) Lets GO FOR SOULS! (website should be up in a month or so...)

MCG, New converts and over enthusiasm

I took a couple of youth to the cricket yesterday. I had promised them we'd go and it was Australia's last game at the MCG this year. To make it even more special it was Adam Gilchrist's last game at the MCG!

The boys loved it. They especially loved how we could sit in the front row and sledge the players, how you could yell out whatever you thought of the game and no one would care, and if they did you just yell a bit louder! The boys were also trying to get autographs, and when we left one even said he was going to hold on to his ticket to show everyone he'd been to the cricket at the MCG. It was a great day and one they wont forget soon...

As I sat there often they would say or do something and Id think to myself, "Didn't you know that?" Or "Settle down a bit, that happens all the time." But then I realized this is a new experience for them and I need to settle down and let them experience it for the first time.

New Christians are just like the boys. They get saved and see all the great things God is doing. Often they are the best evangelists as they tell the world what they really think. They get excited about miracles and what God is saying, they get excited about what is out there! This new experience is the best thing to ever happen to their lives!

In the story I am like alot of the older Christians. Getting grumpy for new people being too loud, or getting too excited. i had lost the wonder of the cricket at the MCG. I had been there so many times, it'd just worn off.... And so often people lose the wonder of God, a result of being brought up in a church...

How can this happen? For me, I lost my first love for the cricket at the MCG. For the church we have lost our first love of Jesus. We need to regather ourselves and start loving God more. Reading our Bibles, praying for hours on end. Everyday. More prayer meetings, more worship, more sacrifice, and if we do this then it wont matter what program we run, the Spirit of God will be moving and we will see revival.

Yesterday I allowed myself to go back to the wonder of the MCG and we had a great time. One of the best times for the boys. What would have happened if I didn't get into it and stifled their enthusiasm? This happens in the church, people get disillusioned and leave unsatisfied, searching elsewhere for an authentic Spirituality...

Do you have the spirit of a new boy at the MCG or the hack who thinks they know everything too well but have forgotten the wonder of the MCG?

"Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love."
Revelation 2:4