ACTS 4 Lesson...

Peter and John healed a beggar in Acts chapter 3. Then they were brought before the sandhedrin. They started questioning Peter. To which he said,

ACTS 4:8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11He is
" 'the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone.
12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

Heres a few points from this short account.

1) Peter and John acted in kindness. (v9) Do you find that amazing that they filled with the Holy Spirit were living in love! When they saw the poor beggar they had compassion and healed him because it was the kind thing to do. Note, it was not to show people their message was this or that, it was not to make a show, it was for compassion! Healing ministry is a ministry of kindness!

2) Peter and John were harassed by the religious people. This is the age old story. Whenever there is a work of God religios people get all uptight and go all legalistic! From Old Testament times, New Testament times, Wesley times, to now! Don't get caught up in the wicked religios spirit!

3) Healing is in the name of Jesus! Healing in the name of Jesus is an amazing thought. The name of Jesus is so powerful, so full of love and compassion that when commanded in the name of Jesus something starts changing in the Earth! In this case it was the mans health! Hallelujah! Remember how powerful the name of Jesus is!

4) The healing led to the gospel being preached. Peter and John healed a man which led to the gospel being preached. There is no correct order for healing and preaching because they are both preaching! They are preaching with words and actions. Lets never be so ignorant to think that the gospel must be spoken first, it doesn't matter as it is all preaching, word and deed!

5) Salvation only comes through Jesus Christ. There is no other way to heaven, eternal life. It is only through faith in Jesus Christ. Those who do not believe Him will perish. That means Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, as lovely as some may be will not inherit eternal life unless they put their faith in Jesus Christ. Think of your family and friends, you neighborhood, see the millions drifting into hell. GO and fetch them! They need saving, and only the MIGHTY name of Jesus will do!

The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

Acts Chapter 2

1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"

13Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine."
----------------
I always find it interresting how peoples reactions never change from Bible time to now. When the Holy Spirit starts moving He does weird and wacky things. He does things to people that makes other people feel uncomfortable, and often the people looking on don't understand what is going on and so they start bagging it. But we all know that the Holy Spirit has come to give us power to testify. To testify to Jesus the Messiah, His death and resurrection, and how we can inherit eternal life. Peter got up filled with the Spirit amongst the scoffing and preached and 3000 were saved that day.

Are you a scoffer?
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit and if you are have you gotten up to preach or are you just sitting still?

Father please forgive us for scoffing at different moves of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, please send the Holy Spirit to empower us to live our life for you dedicated to witnessing to the world about Jesus death and resurrection!

Spiritual Gifts

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. 1 Corinthians 12

Which of these gifts are you operating in? Not operating in any of them then I have two suggestions.

1) Get baptised in the Holy Spirit by repenting of all sin, dedicating your whole life to God, asking the God to baptise you with the Holy Spirit, then believe He is doing/has done it, then walk in and by faith.

Or

2) Step out in faith in a way that will force God to give you one of these gifts so that His will may be done, for example pray for the sick, or ask God for a word of knowledge to help in leading the lost to Christ, building up the church etc...

God determines which ones He gives, and from my experience I can see that God gives as we step out in faith and meet the challenges ahead. He chooses to give gifts to help accomplish the mission He has given us. (The Great Commission)

Step out in faith and see what happens!

MIRACLE WITH EVIDENCE

A letter from a friend of mine...

Dear James,

As I shared with you and at Macleod the other night, Len's healing was dramatic, instantaneous, and supernatural. He had suffered a major stroke and I was being told by the whole medical team at Maroondah Public hospital , to book my husband into a Nursing Home as he would never regain speak see, or have use of his right arm. leg and cognitive thinking again. There were scans to medically prove this , these scans are in our keeping and that there would be quote:''ABSOLUTELY NO IMPROVEMENT , ONLY DEGENERATION FROM NOW ON ", Len was aged 44 at this time. I knew & believed & prayed the fire of God into what seemed to be a "hopeless'' situation.

Myself & Major David Philp layed hands on Len & immediately power flowed into his right side & he began to speak his first intelligible words since the stroke .......the actual stroke had occured some 10 or so hours earlier.. The Doctors & nursing staff stared in disbelief as they watched Len beginning to recover, they could not offer any medical , logical reason for what appeared to be and was proved to be a powerful healing from JESUS ........as days went on , after a short period of rest , Len resumed his normal extremely demanding schedule as a Corps Officer with myself (Marney) at Ringwood Corps.EVD

I can only say ''PRAISE JESUS" for the miracle of healing on that night and Len continues to serve the Lord unhindered as an effective servant of Jesus in a very responsible position of leadership in The Salvation Army (Aus. South. Territory).2008! Please feel free to share this story ! By the way we have many others ......HALLELUJAH!

MARNEY

To check out her blog click here.

5 SALVATIONS!

Last night we had the discipleship group for Plenty and Macleod and it was great! It was the last one for the term and last one as me and Sarah as not married so we gave them the choice of what they wanted to do. Option 1 was to muck around, play card games and talk, Option 2 was to pray and talk and Option 3 was to pray then do outreach. It was 50/50 between outreach and prayer so it worked well.

In the prayer time one of the youth who we have been travelling along with decided they wanted to committ their life to Christ. Hallelujah! God started speaking to her and told her to do the outreach too. So we had over half wanting to preach the gospel and heal the sick/pray for whoever they could.

We split into teams and my team started talking to a bunch of boys 15-17 years old, we preached the gospel, they were convicted and told us they wanted to be saved. We all prayed and spoke about repentance and following God, we got their phone numbers and have invited them to hang out with us. They now know they are sinners deserving hell, that God doesnt want that which is why Jesus died, and if we turn from sin and follow God we will be raised as Jesus was to eternal life! We also prayed for the infilling of the Holy Spirit and 2 of the 4 said they felt something going on in their hearts. (remember wesleys heart was strangely warmed...)

So pray for those boys and the girl! Remember that Jesus saves! Remember the gospel is the power of God to save! Lets preach it as much as we can! The more we preach it and give people the opportunity to be saved the more people will get saved! Go do likewise today!

Thers a dieing world to save!

freedom

Sorry I havent been blogging much! Ive been flat out!

On the good side we are seeing God doing some amazing things at the moment, real life changing stuff. The girls that decided to follow Jesus the other week came back for Bible study yesterday where we spoke about Sin and Salvation and deliverance... Today at brekie club they were almost completely different looking kids. I dont know how to explain, they were happy, but something in their spirit is changing. Praise God!

I had a great opportunity to show Gods love today. I was able to give coffee to some people lining up outside in the cold which led to great conversations, and I was able to pray for a guys back. He injured his back years and years ago at work and hasnt been able to work since. He came intoday and it was really bugging him so I prayed for it and he became alot more peaceful, and as he left he said it felt great and that he wanted to come to church with me! Thank you God for loving people!

Heres some holiness stuff from the Holy Spirit via Paul in Galatians 5...

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery...

"You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature[a]; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."[b] 15If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. "

Lord, forgive us for sinning. Help us live by the Spirit! Thank you for freedom!

What to do

I remember when there were discussions around about if we should just evangelise, or evangelise and serve or just serve. There were two very distinctive groups, and I remember being stuck in the middle.

One group was that we shouldn’t waste our time on serving people. It’s better just to get them saved, that’s more important. The other was don’t preach it, rather just love them and they will find God. And I was in the middle saying can’t we do both? Why do they need to be separated?

The answer is they don’t need to be separated. Serving people is showing people Gods love. It’s a response from our heart to love God and love others. It’s about sharing the grace of God, whether that’s through a meal and a shelter, or an evangelistic sermon, or a talk over the coffee table.

These days there are people who try to write off the ministry of signs and wonders. They say we should just preach it, or preach it and act out of love. Then there are the people on the other side who say we should only preach with signs and wonders. (I haven’t met anyone from this side yet though…)

Again I am in the middle. I believe we are to preach the gospel, and serve humanity through our own strength and by allowing God to work His saving power in their lives. There is no reason why there needs to be division again. Lets do all three and we will see that they all interact with each other.

--------
This was in a table but I couldn't get it to fit...

Signs no preaching

Signs and preaching

Signs and preaching and serving

Only preaching

Serving and preaching and signs

Serving and preaching

Serving no preaching

DELIVERANCE - SALVATION - BAPTISM

Last night was amazing! We had our usual group at the hall after school yesterday and we had a few new people come. One guy came early because he wanted to get right with God. I was able to speak to him about the foolish man building his house upon the sand and the wise man building upon the rocks. This worked beautifully and he immediately wanted to pray and repent.
We spent some time in prayer then as I was leaving the room he kept saying how hes going to try to be good but he still has demons in him. I wasn't 100% if they were demons but I wanted to at least pray for him. So I simply accepted the authority Jesus has given us over the demonic (luke10:19) and started quietly praying if there was anything not of God in him that it would leave. I started getting names of unclean spirits so I simply told them to leave. He started shaking and falling backwards even though I had rested my hand on his shoulder. Wanting him to know that I wasn't pushing I decided not to touch him and I kept praying. Again, as I quietly commanded the demonic to leave he kept falling backwards. Then all of a sudden he was at peace and had a great smile!

Then a couple of girls came in as we finished up. They were swearing so I simply said no swearing in church. Then we started talking about church, to which I asked, "Do you believe in God?" They said yes, but when I asked if they were heading for heaven they didn't know. So I did the good test so they could find out of they were 'good enough' to go to heaven. Of course we found out that they both were headed for hell and they didn't like that thought. So I was able to tell them about the grace of God dieing and rising again to forgive us and to wipe away it all from us. To recieive this you had to say sorry to God and choose to follow Him from now on. They agreed so we wrote down on paper all the sins we could think of. Then we lit fire as we thanked God for Jesus and for forgiveness. They then committed to following Jesus.

We then mucked around with all the other guys but then we decided everyone needed to know how to listen to God speak. So we spent time listening to God and had some very prophetic stuff coming out for each other. I was particularly impressed with one prophetic word from one girl to the other saying she could see the girl walking away from a fight and walking towards Jesus. It was a great moment!

After this we spoke of the need to follow Jesus in more detail and how it can be hard but God has sent the Holy Spirit to help us to follow Him. I then asked if they wanted to receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands. They all indicated they wanted to so we started praying for each other. The Holy Spirit showed up and touched our hearts, and as a sign of Him touching the inside He also touched the outside causing us all to fall to the ground. We explained that the falling to the ground was an outward sign of them letting go and letting God take over, giving God full control so that He can touch our hearts. A great peace filled the room!

We had a great time. We all had fun and encountered the living God. We gave them our new Christian show bags that have devotionals, bibles, stress balls that say Jesus loves you, and a bunch of other stuff, and we also organised a new small group to be held every week so we can learn to follow Jesus better!

Praise God because He saves!

Holiness

"Holiness is a state in which there is no anger, malice, blasphemy, hypocrisy, envy, love of ease, selfish desires for good opinion of men, shame of the Cross, worldiness, deceit, debate, contention, covetousness, nor any evil desire or tendency in the heart." (Brengle)

"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want." (Galatians 5:16-17)

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other." (Galatians 5:22-26)

Did you catch that? Holiness is possible. It is expected. We can't do it on our own. But by Jesus death and resurrection we can. By the filling of the Holy Spirit we can. And I can testify that sinful habits that I've had, the ones I thought I could never get rid off have fallen off me. Instead of having a sinful heart my heart has been turned to love.

If you are still sinning today God can change that. We cannot do it on our own. But thats the whole reason why Jesus died and rose again. He defeated sin on the cross. Why not enforce that victory upon your own life today? Ask God to show you your sin. Repent and renounce. Devote all of your life to Him. Believe God has done it. Then testify that He has done it!

There's freedom in the name of Jesus!

Long time no blog! Since the last blog I started up a new boys group that is awesome! We had such a good time and I can see how we will be able to preach the gospel to them in a relative way. Prayers would be greatly appreciated!
-----
I was listening to an old sermon last night and he was asking are you a Christian or a disciple of Jesus? Interesting question that I think we all need to ask ourselves. Are we doing the Christian thing, church, Bible, a bit of prayer, good morals etc, or are we pressing into Christ? Are we a disciple? Someone who follows Jesus, listens to Him, watches Him, and obeys Him? A disciple is someone who is turning into their master. A disciple of Jesus is radical. They are different to the world. They are revolutionaries set on changing the world... Interesting thought. Which one are you?
-----
Pentecost Sunday yesterday on Mothers day. Did your corps celebrate both or just mothers day or just Pentecost? We did Mothers Day, we mentioned Pentecost but are going to do it more thoroughly on another day. We had a good, clear gospel presentation. There were definitely people moved by it but I didn't see any visible signs of commitment. I do pray that the seed planted would grow though... I didn't mind doing the mothers day thing as we were doing what Pentecost was all about, preaching the good news. So I guess we did have a Pentecost meeting by preaching Jesus raised from the dead...

JESUS IS LORD OVER EVERYTHING

Some really cool stories here... Try read them all, they're all pretty cool, supernatural, and God glorifying! Warning: if you're not a Holy Spirit lover you may take offense...
-------
I'm back from camp! And yes I did get the gastro bug which a few of us are pretty certain was food poisoning... For those of you who dont know I went to a Salvo camp in Adelaide and they had to finish a day early because over 20 youth and leaders got sick! They even had to quarantine the sick (lepers) from the rest of us on the edge of camp. It reminded me how in Bible times, and some places today, that the lepers were on the outskirts of town and people would ignore them etc... So, instead of ignoring them we decided to tease them to cheer them up... One guy preached to them and a couple got saved! Hallelujah! The week was great hearing RC, SC and AW and others preach! The last night was awesome, the leaders had a powerful prayer time beforehand where we sung Awesome God followed by an outbreak of shouting praises to our king! The night ended with demons getting booted out of every hole we could find! God is our deliverer! Hallelujah!
-------
Last nights Macca youth meeting was great! Not heaps of people there but heard some great testimonies! Worship was great with a leader seeing angels whispering into peoples ears! Then I had a short preach and a guy got saved! Hallelujah! To cement it all in, I got him to exercise his new God given power and authority over sickness and he layed hands on a guy with a bad neck and he was healed! Hallelujah! He hadn't been saved 20minutes and he'd obeyed Jesus command to heal the sick! Glory to God for He alone is worthy of all praise and honor!
-------
While I was sick and in bed I saw something evil in the spirit outside my window, as I prayed I saw a vision of a lion roar and scare it away! The lion kept roaring throughout the night as I was praying for healing...
-------
I heard great stories of Holy Spirit stuff while I was hanging with some guys at easter camp. One guy was prayed for by a friend of mine, he had a glory fit and woke up underneath the salvo flag, a symbol of being dead to sin alive in Christ!

Friend also prays for people but shoots them with a bow and arrow that we cant see. People have watched this holy prayer warrior at work and has been reported that he will walk behind people in worship un-noticed and shoot someone and they will be affected somehow, some even jerking forwards... Other times shot in knees to work for healing... Apparently this guys brother uses a spear...

These guys also prayed for another friend of mine that angels would tickle him (there is more context to this story... dont freak out too quick with questions of "why") and the guys said it was unbearable! He was getting tickled all over!
--------
Theres some stories of my last week for you to chew over and think about. How can you use the same techniques in your ministry today and this week?

Revolution- by Eleventyseven

I don't mean to cause mass hysteria
It's on its way and its probably gonna bury you
And there's nothing much that you can do
There's nothing good left to immitate
Nobody is left now to mediate
And everybody has still got something to prove

Pre-chorus:
I can't even tell whats right from wrong
Will someone please tell me what's going on

Chorus:
Cause we need more than a revolution
Something deeper than a false solution
To replace what's going wrong
So don't look alarmed when everyone's choking
Suffocated on what they're hoping in
Let's move this along

Don't ask for me to participate
I'm just the wrong kind of candidate
It's pure hypocrisy that makes me, me
God show me past all this ignorance
I can't pretend to be innocent
It takes much more than words to make a stand

Pre-chorus

Chorus

To where we find a passion
And not just fake reactions
In all the words we choose today
'Cause there's no easy answer
When greed becomes a cancer
And now it's eating us away

Nothing in our world is working. Poeple try different things all the time, trying to find, peace, balance, enlightenment... I read an article the other day showing all the trendy religions that the celebreties try out... Jesus is the only way. Lets show people Jesus, He's much better than getting drunk on the weekend, or getting high with the rastas, or sitting in a circle humming, or stretching for an hour, or drinking green tea, or positive thinking... Hes the real deal

God is good!

Tonight was awessome at band practice. We had a great prayer time at the end. Pretty much everyone was knocked over by the Holy Spirit. A couple of people even fell forwards! We had people prophesying, prophecies being confirmed, curses being broken, blessings being declared. A great time to the glory of God! Hallelujah!

Second part of Finney... (still in fairly contemp english... my better version coming soon...)

Sins of Commission

1. Worldliness: What has been the state of you heart to world possessions? Have you looked at hem as your own, meaning you have the right to do with them as you like? If you have write it down. If you have loved property, and tried to get it for the sake of it to satisfy lust or ambition, or a worldly spirit, or to lay it up for your family, you have sinned and must repent!

2. Pride: Vanity is a specific form of pride. How many times have you spent more time, going through more of a hassle to decorate your body to go to church than you have spent preparing your heart and mind for the worship of God? You have gone to the house of God caring more about how you look to mortal men and women than how your soul appears in the sight of the heart searching God! You came to divide the worship of Gods house, to draw off attention of Gods people to look at your petty appearance!

3. Envy: Look at the times when you were envious of those who you thought to be above you in any way. Be honest, and if you have accommodated this spirit of hell, repent deeply before God, or He will never forgive you.

4. Highly critical: Times when you have been bitter, when you have spoken to Christians in a manner totally devoid of charity and love, charity requires you always hope the best, and to put the best slant on any ambiguous behavior.

5. Slander: The times what you have spoken behind peoples backs of the faults, real or made up, of members of the church or others, un necessisarily, or without good reason. This is slander. You don’t have to lie to be guilty of slander, telling the truth with the aim of hurting is slander.

6. Lightheartedness: How often have you gone about as though nothing matters, but you would not dare do in front of God.

7. Lying: Understand what lying is. It is any means of designed deception. If you design to make an impression contrary to the naked truth, you lie. How many lies are told in business, and in social times, by words, looks, and actions in order to make an impression on people contrary to the truth.

8. Robbing God: Times when you have misspent your time, wasted hours, which God gave you to save souls, in vain amusements or foolish conversation, reading novels, watching T.V or doing nothing.

9. Bad Temper: Maybe you have abused friends, family, partners, or other people in any way. Write it down.

10. Hindering others from being useful: Maybe you have weakened their influence by insinuations against them. You have not only robbed God of your own talents, but tied the hands of someone else!

Hell

During "Go For Souls" we were challenged to ask God to show us hell. We were told that one of the reasons why we don't evangelise as we should is because hell isn't real enough. I think thats a good point. Imagine if we actually applied that to the people we love, our friends, family, neighbours etc! Man, would we be busy!

Anyway, i had a vision of hell at the conference, here it is...

I saw the gates to hell and behind it were people aglow. they were glowing because it was so hot. And, they were all weird looking like they'd been melted. And as i stood at the gate into hell i saw hands reaching out, trying to escape. But, sadly, they couldnt. The other thing about it was that there was no sound. no screaming, because there tongues were so parched.

i was talking to someone who knew someone who worked with William booth. when he was asked why Booth was such an effective evangelist he paused then said, "Because he had such a strong belief in hell." Wow.

i don't know about you, but I don't want anyone to go to hell. And as Catherine Booth said, "Its Jesus or Hell!" Or as Jesus said when talking about Himself, "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son"

freinds dont let friends burn in hell.

Old people slain...

I had some good discussion on my last post, but I feel I need to clarify a little bit.

One thing that is bugging me and I would guess with alot of youth in The Salvation Army, (but not restricted to The Army, any denomination in Australia...) is that our ideas are put down or demoted because others see our views as views of our generation. However I would say it is based on what Jesus said for us to do! It is based on the Bible. And how the church in Australia over the past 50 years hasn't been able to do it. (Again this is a problem which has stretched across all denominations and it is a problem as we see the continued effects of the last 50 years...)

And so now we see the problems with the older congregations who have been faithful are beginning not to fit in with a Jesus-biblical-missional culture of being a light in the dark. Thats my opinion, debate it please! But give the youth some slack, we're doing and trying to do what we think Jesus commands us to do, it is not out of our generational difference as such, but out of our generational response to the gospel of Jesus.
-----------
Secondly, Bible study today was great! We read through 2 Corinthians 5:11-6:1. As we read it we were all challenged by the bit "compelled by the love of Christ." We then prayed for each other to be filled with the love of God. As we were praying the Holy Spirit fell and so did we as we were prayed for.

This is often regarded to being called "slain in the Holy Spirit." One of my friends hates the term because slain refers to being killed and we haven't really been killed. I try to make the point we're being "like dead" or we're crucifying the sinful nature type thing, but the phrase, "slain in the Holy Spirit" doesn't quite fit...

So, can you please suggest some other names for being slain in the Holy Spirit? I cant think of any that sound as cool as that but I wanna be more correct... help me out!

Evangelsim

Ive been reading a great book by Reinhard Bonnke called Evangelism by fire. Ive only read the first chapter but already Im impressed... Heres a few quotes...
___________
It struck me that the Gospel is not good news to people who dont hear it - that an unpreached Gospel is no Gospel at all!

Yet one fact faced me - there had never been revival without aggressive evangelism!

Plodding along mechanically might be called faithfulness, but our primary concern in evangelism is effectiveness, not a twisted type of faithfulness!

Entertainers are not needed or wanted. From Captain to the cook all hands are needed on deck for soul saving. The church that does not seek the lost is "lost" itself!

The devil is no match for the mind of the Holy Spirit. If we plan, preach, witness and evangelize as men, satan will foil us. He can handle psychology and propoganda. The answer is - move in the Spirit and preach the Gospel as it is!

Theres so many more quotes Id like to put in but that will do for now.
___________
The thing thats bugging me at the moment is that there are so many people within the church that think we need to be mature Christians to be able to do Gospel work. That not just anyone can pray for a stranger. That not just anyone can give a Spiritual Reading. (A word from God) Its so annoying because God doesnt give the Spirit to the mature, NO! He gives it to the willing!

If the Army is to move forward we need to give the Youth a go! We need to empower them, not lord it over them because we are smarter, older and more mature! The Army would not be where it is today if the youth didnt take on leadership, if the youth werent given responsibility! And Im not talking young adult age either! Im talking teenagers!
___________
Go get someone saved!
Pray for the sick! Raise the dead! Drive out demons! Rejoice that youre saved!

Heres a COMMAND from JESUS:
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Matthew 10:8

revival?

Are we really ready for revival? Do we expect it? My guess is no. I could be wrong here but to the best of my knowledge there is no Salvo material for new Christians. I'm guessing this is because 1) we hardly have any converts these days and 2) we're not expecting it!

Mu aunty is c.o somewhere and they put some Bibles under the mercy seat expecting people to be saved. The following Sunday I believe a bunch of people came forward and gave their life to Christ!

If we're praying for revival and salvations etc, lets get some plans together for when it happens. I don't want to get left behind because I wasn't ready!

------------------
the following has been edited from the first time it was posted a few hours ago...
Will The Salvation Army get serious about our covenant? Will there be a day when people will not be accepted as officers, soldiers and lieutenants if they don't believe the doctrines and follow the therefores? (Not just talking about first time committments like swearing in, commissioning etc) How long can we go along compromising? How can we continue to perpetuate the already bad situation because we dont want to make people upset? If we are allowing people to stay in covenant and the positions that brings even though they constantly break it are we not taking Gods grace in vain? Are we sinning because God will forgive us?

The problems are too great. Bad theology etc leads to bad mission. Dis unity in the body will only hinder revival not improve it.

The covenant is what unites Salvationists. Not everyone is called to The Salvation Army. I love having non salvos help out and do stuff, I know some great non-salvos who help us heaps. But at the same time we need to unite on those things which make us us. The things that separate us from other denominations and movements...

------------------
Sorry I'm so negative today! Just a bit frustrated. Heres some positive to keep us going. One of the guys who has just got saved has been laying hands and praying that his sister will get healed! He has also told me that one of his friends is coming on Thursday night and shes gonna get saved! Hallelujah! The Army is moving! The Spirit is stirring! Lets cut the dead wood and allow the Holy Spirit freedom in our lives!

MORE SALVATION!

Woohoo!

Thursday nights are turning into Salvation nights at Plenty Valley! We had another girl commit her life to Jesus tonight! Hallelujah! God is good!

Also, a girl was there who had been feeling sick. She had tummy problems so we prayed for her. As we were praying for her she was completely healed and started laughing because she couldnt believe it!

I also started our first youth bible study tonight. We read about how Jesus called the fishermen, "Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men." I then challenged them to start getting their friends saved!

i love Thursdays! i love Jesus!

Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." Mark 16:15-18

WOW

Had another great night at a Corps the other night. What happened could be called as Reggie Dabbs sings, A Holy Ghost Party! The Holy Spirit made His presence known very early as we confessed our sins to God, asked for forgiveness and declared ourselves forgiven by God because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross.

The night was put on so that those youth that wanted to be baptised in the Holy Spirit could come and be so. We started praying and the Holy Spirit did HEAPS of amazing things! As we prayed people were being overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit and falling to the ground praying their hearts out. There were tears of consecration, tears of repentance and tears of joy.

There was some curse renouncing, there was very eager prayer, prayer that God would touch peoples lives and that they would know it! And He did! Anyone who was there would not have been able to deny that God was there and moving in an amazing way! All this backed by a cd player playing praise and worship songs. The night was very special. God was worshipped. People were humbled. And now I pray that lives will be changed as these youth live Holy Spirit empowered lives and touch people wherever they go!

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8

SALVATION!

WOW!

Last nights band practice was FANTASTIC! I had to choose the songs for the meeting etc and so when three youth rocked up un-announced I was excited they had come, but after a while, all I wanted to do was worship God, and these youth were just stuffing around! We closed the night in prayer as we normally do, but before we got praying...

one of them asked if they could "feel the power of God like I had described the other day!". So I told them the way of Salvation, then spoke briefly about the Holy Spirit. I then told them they had to pray and ask for forgiveness of their sins and give their life to God.

What followed was amazing. Two of them gave their lives over to God, confessing their sins to Him, saying sorry, giving their life to Him, then we prayed for them one at a time. They both felt the Holy Spirit touching them!

What is great is that one of them had been hanging around for ages, and he finally committed to the Lord, the other had been with us only once before. It just goes to show that the good news is the power of God to save! Hallelujah!

Join with me as I pray for these youth!