signs and wonders

We watched this video last night at Strike. We're learning about Signs and wonders. But before you watch it, take a look at this table which talks about the term 'signs and wonders'...

WHERE	TIMES USED	BY WHO?	WHY?
Old Testament	27 times	God and prophet	Declare and save
Acts	13 times	God and apostle	Declare and save
Revelation	7 times (signs)	False prophets	Lead astray
Other	3 times	Both	Both

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[1] (2 Corinthians 12:12, 2 Thessalonians 2:9, Hebrews 2:4) (Gospel research still being done...)

The table clearly shows the reasons for a Sign and wonder. We do not want people chasing signs and wonders, rather we want people to chase after God. We want people saved and so it is with those intentions that we believe and pray for signs and wonders. Whether we get a sign or wonder or not is not the main point, the main point is that people turn to follow Jesus.

Now, watch this video and be challenged by a command of God...

God at work

Hows everyone going?

I've been copping some criticism for believeing that God raises the dead. Why? Because its too 'out there'. Becasue its crazy. Becasue 'it doesn't happen.' Well, I believe in a God who has done miracles right throughout time from creation through Moses days, through Elijahs days, Isaiahs days, Jesus' days, the disciples days... all the way up until and including now. I follow a God who does not change His mission. The kingdom of God is here.

Why do I want people to believe this stuff? Becasue God is the God that saves. Heals. Sets free! Makes whole! Makes holy! He loves everyone! And knowing Him and being with Him is better than anything in the world and I want others to know Him like I do. Because He is so good!

I have seen God do amazing things. Set people free from demonic possesion and oppression, heal people of cancer, tummy problems, head problems including depression! I have seen God turn lives around, lives heading towards hell turned to lives that bring glory to God, lives that bring the Kingdom of God to this world! I have seen people been made whole. I have seen people filled with joy. I have seen people filled with love. I have seen peoples condemnation, guilt and stress fall off. I have seen God at work in my life and the lives of others.

I dont need to make anything up. If you doubt come and see. And you will see that God is alive, that He impacts the world we live in becasue He loves us. He loves you. If you have doubts about how real God is then come and see. God can do a miracle in your life.

MY THEOLOGY

What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 100% Fundamentalist 86% Charismatic/Pentecostal 86% Neo orthodox 68% Classical Liberal 54% Reformed Evangelical 50% Emergent/Postmodern 46% Modern Liberal 25% Roman Catholic 25%

Door to door

Candidates weekend was great! There were 75 potential candidates/cadets there and there are some very good officers that will emerge in the next few years! The weekend was lots of fun meeting up with people from all over Australia! The Turners did a great job and the commissioners came down and spoke and they were both great!

But my favorite part of the weekend was going house to house door knocking. The idea was to promote the local corps. Heres a few thoughts on it...

Its terrible how many people did it and came back saying they had never done that before without asking for money. How crazy is that? Where do people live? In their homes. So where should we be trying to get them saved? It seems obvious to me that we should go to homes, thats where sinners live. It may be a surprise to some people but sinners dont go to church! (well some do...lol) So how are they going to get saved unless we go to them?

It made me angry, disappointed and filled me with a passion for souls because out of the 75+ doing the door knocking there was only a handful preaching the gospel. Others were just trying to get people to a program or a meeting. I had the privilege of leading a young man to Christ so it can be done because it happened. Praise God for his salvation!

BUT what sort of Salvation Army are we when our candidates, future leading officers don't preach the gospel? Heres a line from a Major, (it went along a bit like this...) "You can say you preach with your life, but be like Jesus! Even Jesus spoke! Use your words!"

Heres a great positive though. The experience made people think and challenged them to do more of this sort of stuff. Heaps of people came back really excited that people accepted them, welcomed them and opened up in conversation with them. So, although the gospel wasn't preached as much as it could have been, their were shadows of the gospel as people shared stories, had compassion, loved people and prayed with them. If only we could see that Jesus is the answer to their problems!

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This morning I read some more of a book by Catherine Booth and it just so happens it was on a chapter called, "Compel them to come in." The whole chapter is about door to door evangelism.

"Dear reader, here is a sphere for you! You have long wished to do something for your 'blessed , blessed master.' Here is work, boundless in extent, and momentous beyond an angels power to conceive. For it, you need no human ordination, no long and tedious preparation, no high flown language, no towering eloquence, all you want is the full baptism in the Holy Spirit on your heart, the Bible in your hand, and humility and simplicity of manner. Thus equipped you will be mighty through God to pulling down strongholds. You will find your way to many a heart long since abandoned by hope and given up in despair, and in the great day of account you shall have many a sheaf as the result of your labor, and the the reward of your self denial."

Can you help me? I'm trying to get an exciting new project off the ground called "The Go for Souls Experiment." I cant say too much about it just yet but you will want to be in on it. If you are in Melbourne I need you. I'm looking at doing something involving evangelizing every day (including street preaching, good test, healing, prophetic evangelism etc) and need some people to help out. If you can help out one day a week, or an afternoon or morning once a week let me know... (reelbigjimmy@hotmail.com)
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Don't forget to poll your answer on whether you believe Jesus raises the dead or not. So far the people of faith are winning 14-4...
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What holds you back from evangelism? Ive heard lots of reasons from fear of what people might think to "I would but I have no idea what to say." Well heres my response for today. Give your whole life to God, He will make you holy if you do, then because you are controlled by love it will drive fear away. (Perfect love drives out all fear 1 John 4:18) All your selfishness will disappear and because that experience is so good you will want to tell people about it. Don't forget that we in The Salvation Army believe that if you believe you have the witness in yourself and listen to what Peter has to say, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."

First up, INSANE is going to be insane! Its a bug youth get together at the beginning of next year! Its going to be huge. If you want to donate money or help out somehow talk to 2love at THQ. But what we all should do is start praying for it! We want to see heaps of youth get saved! PRAY IT UP!




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Read this in my devotions today... It made me think because I am sure there have been times I have fallen into a couple of these categories, and it confirms my thoughts that we as the church should be a bit stricter and not so afraid of expelling the immoral brothers...

"I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.

But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked man from among you." 1 Cor 5

I've been in corps where the people in charge know there is dodgy stuff going on but they turn a blind eye because its 'none of their business...' I wonder what my life and the lives of others would look like if we were expelled for being consistently immoral... I wonder how many Officers, pastors, leaders etc have been obedient to this passage in recent times.

Also, its wise to read Matthew 18:15-17, 2 cor 2:5-8, 2 Thess 3:14-15, Titus 3:10

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About the so called art that is really porn. I just heard a politician on the news saying that he doesn't think that police should be raiding art galleries. My response is this, "Artists shouldn't be taking photos of nude 12-13 yr old girls."

Hollywood and God

Check out this link! Its a very interesting site that on a topic we should all have a think about! Make sure check out the video that is there!

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Also check out http://www.wayofthemaster.com/ I love thir website. Check out the witnessing clips to see how they do it and you will learn how to witness to people about hell, sin and judgment without offending but appealing to their conscience! It works as I have blogged before... Now, learn from the masters...

STAY OR GO?

Imagine this, You've been working for years and years. Your body has been damaged, your relationships have suffered, you haven't made much money, your life has been about working. But then all of a sudden you see the end of the tunnel, you see that by a mans gift to you, you can live like a King in a mansion. Every tear will be wiped away, you can live in peace, not having to worry about anything. You can be in paradise! And then you say, no thanks, not yet, the work I am doing is more important for this time...

What would you do? If you were taken to Paradise right now would you want to come back? If you could escape all your fears, worries, concerns, struggles, pain, enemies etc would you choose to stay here or go on? Why?

Paul gives us this testimony, "I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body."

Paul saw something that we only say we believe. He saw that if people did not have Jesus then they were destined to spend eternity in the lake of fire. He was consumed with this compassion for the lost, he didn't want anyone to go to hell. So his life reflected that longing. He decided that staying in the body was important for other peoples salvation.

I know for myself that I know alot of the stuff about salvation, grace, faith, heaven and hell. Its easy, most Christians know that you need Jesus to be saved. But how many of us are filled with enough compassion to do something about it? How many of us structure our lives on trying to lead people into a saving relationship with Jesus?

Are you waiting for heaven or are you ready to fight for the Salvation of the world?

Red Shield Slogans

I had a great time today doing some intersection collecting. (collecting at traffic lights) I had a guy give some money who we helped at Family Support during the week. I was able to talk to him last week so when I remembered him I think he appreciated it. It was great to see him putting back in after we helped him in a hard time.

It was also a great opportunity to tell people about Jesus and I challenge anyone to use one of these tiny phrases that can change their world. I was using them today and I pray that God will be able to use them somehow...

"God bless you" This gives God a chance to bless them and hopefully they will see the link between their blessing and my bless...

"Jesus saves" This does something in the spiritual realm, and it also tells them a simple truth that will cause them to think or even react

"Jesus heals" This gets them thinking about the people they know who needs healing, maybe even them self, they may pray or look into Christian healing

"God loves you" Very simple way of telling people God loves them. Even something small like that can mean alot to people... Imagine someone who's life is on the rocks, not sure where they're going or if they want to live, then they hear "God loves you." Ive seen it before, and a simple message like that can put enough doubt in ones mind to stop them from killing them self... Or think about a single mum who hears shes loved and appreciated.... Priceless... Theres dozens more!

Lets use every opportunity to get people saved over this weekend! So much potential. Are you willing?

Also, does anyone know where deficit funding for corps comes from? Does anyone know how much or if any red shield money go towards corps..? I have heard some rumors which I dont like but they seem pretty legit... email me reelbigjimmy@hotmail.com and maybe expect a blog on that at a later date...

Christian Malpractice

What is more loving? To not tell people about sin hell and judgment and to have a nice chat to them, eventually building a relationship with them, then after a while begin to talk about how Jesus saves? OR to tell people, to warn people of their choices and to encourage them to accept Gods grace?

Watch this video, its in response to the nooma video Bullhorn...



What do you think?

Art or porn?

Bill Henson was suppose to be having an opening night for his range of photos at the Roslyn Oxley gallery in Paddington tonight, but he is under investigation for porn and pedophilia and the opening night has been canceled due to public pressure. His latest range of photos show 12-13 year old girls completely naked in different poses. Henson says his work mainly deals with adolescence. And there is a debate at the moment whether this is art or porn.

What sort of world are we living in when someone can take photos of young naked girls and get away with it because its called art? Are we now to call pretty porn art just because of the man who took the photos? What will be next? Where will this logic lead? How many young girls will be used and abused in the name of art if this is allowed? Why is there any debate at all? Naked 12-13 year olds photographed equals porn to me.

Thank God that people caught whiff of this before the opening night, made some complaints leading to the closure of his opening night and that he is now under investigation. Lets pray for justice. Lets choose not to degrade young girls and lets make a noise if we have to because nothing is worth the abuse of young girls.

Chuck Norris

When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants. There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live. You may know him better as Walker Texas Ranger. That show went on for 8 series picking up the 1998 Epiphany award for the best Christian program. Or You may also know him as a 6 year undefeated middle weight Karate champion of the world. But when asked what he wanted to be remembered for he said his humanitarian work.

What you probably don't know is that there are a string of charities he has promoted, worked for and even started up. He is also a motivational speaker for many Christian ministries, such as T.D. Jakes Ministry, Trinity Broadcasting, and Bill Glass Crusade. He also has a new book out about his life and faith which you can buy at Koorong or Word bookstore.

It just goes to show that you can be great in a number of fields but what separates Norris from the rest is his humanitarian work done in the name of Jesus Christ. Norris is showing the world that a Jesus follower can be great at different fields of work, but the fame and fortune is not the number one thing on his list, helping people is. Good on ya Chuck, love ya work!

Community Evangelism

As a youth worker I am always thinking about how to reach as many youth as possible to win them for Christ. There are a few different ways that different youth groups go about reaching the lost and I am not satisified with them!

1) Entertainment - This is the type of youth group I was brought up in. We would gather as a group to have fun, to be entertained. There would be little to no mention of Jesus, the gospel or an opportunity for people to be saved. The aim is to have fun and invite them to the next program that is more gospel friendly. This form of youth group is very common especially amongst small youth groups. Community is forged through fun and with relationships one day someone might talk to them about the gospel.

2) Worship - This type of youth group revolves around a worship meeting where you simply go to a meeting to worship God and hear someone preach. You are to bring your friends to worship and the aim is that the power of God would touch them during an often emotional appeal. The gospel is preached and opportunity is given to be saved. In this method people are asked to come into a new community then stay in that community then leave it to bring more friends back. The focus of these is to get an individual saved. This method is quite common in larger groups.

The problem I have with these is that they both focus on getting the individual saved. They focus on a one person at a time theory. They both work to some extent but they have hurdles of having to change communty to be a Christian. They are both focussed on getting people into new community.

I hate that. I see in the gospels and in Acts, in the early church, early salvos, and Chineese church, not just one or two people getting saved but communities. I hate that we rip people out of one community and try to make a new community. I only understand that if we are dealing with people with absolutely no community at all. But for the majority people are in some form of community. I would much rather get communities saved than just one person at a time.

So, Im looking for ways of reaching communities and not just individuals. What do you guys reckon?

hell

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 11-15)

We believe in the immortality of the soul; in the resurrection of the body; in the general judgment at the end of the world; in the eternal happiness of the righteous; and in the endless punishment of the wicked. (Salvation Army doctrine 11)

It always amazes me that people dont believe in the doctrine of hell and punishment, the place where people go who are guilty of sin and have not accepted the grace of God in Jesus Christ. I'm not sure how people deal with issues of justice if people here on Earth can do what they like, live relatively easy and get away with sin. That does not make a holy and just a judge to me. As for me, I believe sin leads to death, condemnation and hell. I also believe if you repent of your sin, and believe in Jesus you will be regenerated by the Holy Spirit and you will be saved.

GOD SAVES

We heard a great testimony this morning from an older guy in the Corps about how God has saved him time and time again in the lead up to him being eternally saved. One that stands out is that he was driving along a highway and a car pulled out of a side street and hit him side on to the other side of the road where a truck was coming. He froze yet somehow the car turned and got out of the way of the truck. He said there was no way it could have happened but it did. He went on to testify that God is great and he shared how he was led to salvation!

Now, we can sit here and argue about if it was really God or not, I believe it was and the man testifying believes it was, but that is not the point. The point is that God saves. God has been in the business of saving people all through out history, from Noah through Israel, Saul etc all through the years to you. God can save you from hell, depression, unforgiveness, bitterness, evil habits, addiction, pain and hurt, and anything else that is not of God. Jesus saves.

When you are with your friends and family today, remember that Jesus saves. Look at your friends and family, listen to their hurts, and once you see how they are struggling tell them that Jesus saves! Tell them that Jesus is the answer to every problem because He is the God that saves! Worship God today because He saves!

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18

Jesus Speaks

Yesterday was great. Me and a friend got to preach it really hard to one of the guys from the school. We did some listening prayer which I thought was very telling.

We went through some Scripture that says that God speaks to us. "Call to me and I will answer you" (Jer 33:3) "My sheep will hear my voice" (John 10:27) and " "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?" (Matthew 7:9)

I then told him to imagine his happy place. A place where it was peaceful. Then we asked Jesus to speak to us and hold His promise that He speaks. Then we invited Jesus into the picture and we began to ask Jesus different questions. At the end the guy from the school told us he didn't hear anything. So I asked him where Jesus was in his picture. He then told me that Jesus was off in the distance!

So we were able to speak to him and tell him about Jesus who wants us to hear him, but we need to get close to Jesus to hear his voice. That will continue to be the challenge we give him, come to Jesus. Please pray for him that he will have the courage to break out of his comfort zone and run to Jesus.

As for you, what is God saying to you at the moment? Don't know? Perhaps one of the things you need to do is get close to Him...

Jesus and Religious folk

As Ive been reading the gospels over the last couple of weeks I am again reminded of the huge amount of opposition Jesus faced from the religious people. He had all sorts of attacks thrown at Him. People didn't like His message or His methods. Time after time people would tell Him off, accuse Him of heresy, of being controlled by demons and the list would go on.

It amazes me how Jesus dealt with these religious people. He just told them how it was and called them to faith and repentance. He wouldn't take a backward step. Not only that He was very sure that if they didn't do those things they would be condemned, so He told them that as well.

Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'

'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.' "

- Jesus (luke 13)

Think of how we can apply this to our ministry today...

Salvofice?

Watch the DVD "Mama Heidi." I watched it last night and was blown away. Its about a lady who is a missionary serving in orphanages in Mozambique. They help thousands of kids in all sorts of different ways. The DVD shows stories of kids who now have a future, the violence of the country, the grace of God for salvation and healing.

Many would say the trademark of her ministry is the healing and miracles, but I believe the trademark of her ministry is her unconditional loving giving. I'm not talking about money, although she does that as well, but the way she gives of herself.

Coming into Red Shield Appeal time, I wonder how much we Salvationists give. We covenant to give as much as we can. And The Salvation Army gives to alot of people! But what about us personally? Is our giving sacrifice? Or is it salvofice?

If you want to borrow the DVD or watch it with me let me know, its really worth it...

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!

Miracle Jesus

It always amazes me how confessing Christians say they believe Jesus use to heal people but doesn't anymore. How do you justify that position? The only way I know how you could possibly justify that position is to say that He never did them.

However Josephus, a Jewish historian of the time of Jesus says this, "Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles."

Even to Josephus, a Jew who did not believe in Jesus spoke about the wonderful works he did.

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!
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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?
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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...

Priesthood of all believers

I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."

(Genesis 12)

Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you ^[a] will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.'

(Exodus 19)

These two passages are foundational missional texts. They both say that God wants to bless us to bless others. It says that everyone is suppose to be involved in mission.

To Abram he says he will bless him to bless others. If you are saved, you are saved to save. How many people are you actively trying to lead to the Lord at the moment?

To the Israelites God says you will all be a holy go between people. If you are saved are you still sinning? If you are sinning you are not holy. Are you the go between for the people you know who do not yet know God? Are you interceding for them?

God has commanded us to be His people here on Earth. We cannot stand by and do nothing. We can not keep busy by doing 'good' things. We need to be actively involved in leading people to Christ, interceding on their behalf and we need to be holy. These are not suggestions and it is not simply advice. To read these texts and do nothing about it is to disobey God.

As this challenges me and impacts the way I live, I pray that it will impact you too to get involved in Gods saving plan for planet Earth.

The dead are raised

I've had some great chats today with different people...

Heres a story from a friend of mine when he was a pastor... He was preaching and an old lady died. This is funny because he can preach for long times. But anyway, they took her out the back into the prayer room. Two nurses from the congregation (one who worked in palative care) came out and checked her out. After examining her they pronounced her dead. So they called the ambulance. Then one man from the congregation came to see what was going on. "She's passed away." They told him. He said, "I wont allow that!" He put his arms around her and said "Come alive in Jesus name." He put her back down and she woke up. This happend in Melbourne for all the skeptics out there and no we dont have medical reports because they acted as soon as the issue rose...

At the time he said that the Holy Spirit stuff was all new to him and he had no idea what was going on half the time. He wasn't even the person who prayed for her and he was the pastor. So 1) Holy Spirit stuff is messy 2) Dont stress if you dont know whats happening its part of the chaos 3) God can use you even if you're not sure whats going on! 4) God raised Jesus from the dead, and He still does the same thing today!
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I also learnt of someone who sometimes gets in the line of fire for me. Thanks if you're reading this! I appreciate it!
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Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
John 11:40 (2 seconds before Lazarus is raised fom the dead!)

hmmm

Check out http://endtimespropheticwords.wordpress.com for a different view on many of the people seen today as prophets. There is some good stuff there, it will make you think. I dont agree with all of it but it is good to be warned by someone who backs things up in some way...
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Heres a couple of revolution projects I'm trying to get up... Let me know if you want in, even if you dont live anywhere near here. Our idea is to have a movement of people doing mission. What we want to do is teach, equip and empower people.

- A team of people to pray for words of knowledge, prophecy and healing at new age fairs and other relevant places

- A team of committed internet evangelists using msn, facebook and myspace (and anything else you can think of) to share the gospel of Jesus

- A team of committed prophetic prayer warriors to form an advisory board/prayer and prophecy network of sorts for the movement...

- A string of Holy Ghost parties where we simply worship God and see if He has anything to say to us through visions, manifestations, prophecy

There are heaps of ideas, what are you going to sign up to and what can you add to the list of revolutionary things we can do?
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Ive started reading John again. It popped out today how Jesus commanded the use to be paralyzed man to take up his mt even though it was against the law to do so. Jesus didn't care. Jesus acted with pure, love intentions that made it ok to defy the law. It is by Jesus love that He fulfills the law and creates a new covenant...

My life must be Christ's broken bread,
My love his outpoured wine,
A cup overfilled a table spread,
Beneath his name and sign,
That other souls, refreshed and fed,
May share his life through mine.
- Albert Osborn

I like The Salvationist view on sacrament that the communion has more to do with living than with actual bread and wine. I saw something interesting the other day as I was reading the Lords supper in Mark. Jesus speaks about how the wine and bread are His blood and body, at the same time Jesus said that the one who would betray him was the one who dipped his piece of bread in the bowl at the same time as Jesus...

Is it fair to say that we need to take on the bread and wine and not just dip into it? If we simply dip into the blood and sacrifice of Jesus how sure is our Salvation? What sort of life are we living? Judas could only dip in and he ended up betraying Jesus. So heres a warning, (whether my exegesis is any good or not) go the whole way with God or you risk living on a tight rope, about to fall off at any moment, or your a shopping trolley at the top of the hill, at any time the possibility of slipping down the slippery slope to hell.
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Anon keeps his record with warning us against false prophets. Im glad there are some people out there who like to warn. I think we need to look at the fruit of whats happening though... This taken from Patricia King discussing whether Lakeland is a revival or not...

"Just in case you do like a bit of analysis, lets take out our measuring stick and measure what is going on in Lakeland:

1. The Lord is being praised and worshipped.
2. The Word is preached.
3. The Gifts of the Spirit are flowing.
4. Miracles and healings are manifesting.
5. The Supernatural (angelic visitation, presence of Jesus, fragrances, glory presence) is being experienced.
6. Many souls are being saved (both in the meeting and on the streets).
7. Deliverances.
8. Conviction and repentance.
9. The dead are raised.
10. Lots of refreshment and joy.
11. Spreading worldwide like an unstoppable fire.
12. Major generosity. "
    

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I'm going to judge by the fruit.

Simple Evangelism

Exposing 2 lies the devil gives to confuse evangelism

I travel around a bit and love to speak to youth about evangelism. I’ve even done some surveys and I have found that people believe a lot of lies. The devil lies to us and tells us that we don’t have a good testimony to tell and he lies to us that we are not good enough to be an evangelist. I have found that these two lies hinder the work of youth in evangelisation, and I hope that by addressing them we will be able to evangelise better.

The first lie is that our testimony is boring, or that it’s not good enough. John has something different to say though, “Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart… and this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1 John 5:10-12

As I was growing up I always wanted to have a better testimony, I wanted the testimony of the guy who used to be a drunk but got saved and was made sober. I wanted that complete life change that everyone spoke about. But little did I know that my testimony was just as good. I had grown up in a Christian family, my parents were missionaries. I didn’t really every go off the rails. I didn’t really have anything exciting to say.

I find that youth are the same as me. We want a good story to tell. But John says that our testimony is not when we had a glory fit, slain in the Spirit, delivered from addiction, rather our testimony is that if we believe in Jesus we are saved. Now, all those things that happen to us are good things and we can testify about them. But John brings us back to the start. Our testimony is that Jesus is alive. He has risen from the dead and if we believe in Him we have the testimony.

So often we get caught up in the lie that our testimony is not good enough. But really our testimony is amazing. Jesus rose from the dead, and if you believe in Him you will be saved! Our testimony is 2000 years old. It’s the same testimony as the guy who was possessed and miraculously set free. Jesus saves.

Don’t listen to the devils lie that your testimony is no good. Our testimony is good. Jesus died and rose again, if we believe we are saved!

The second lie is that we are not good enough to lead someone to Christ. The amount of emails I have had about this in incredible. As I speak to youth they always seem to say “I don’t know what to say” or “I’m not good enough, I don’t have the gift of evangelism.” These are all lies.

Let’s look at Paul. He was the evangelists to the gentiles. This is what He said about His ministry. “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power”. 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

Can you believe that? Paul says that he didn’t preach with fancy words, or great wisdom, he was weak, fearful and trembling! So many youth I know are terrified of the thought of evangelising. I remember when I use to go out, and this still sometimes happens, that I would be shaking because I was so nervous! Paul, the ultimate evangelist was a scaredy cat just like you and me. People always had a go at how he spoke. But that’s not what he was preaching.

You see, Paul was a powerful preacher because he preached Jesus crucified. He said he didn’t know anything but Christ crucified! It’s the same as our first point, Jesus died and rose to save us! That is the gospel! That is the good news! Paul didn’t preach with wise and persuasive words but by a demonstration of the Spirits power!

The Greek word used for power is dunamis from where we get dynamite and it means supernatural power, or miracle power! Paul didn’t have to preach fantastic because God backed him up in signs and wonders! People would be healed, demons would get kicked out, the lame would walk, the blind would see and the dead were raised! And because they see these things happen they believe the message!

Right now I’m seeing people from all over the world step out in faith and get the same results. I see it happening in the school I’m working in. People are getting healed, set free and saved! We don’t see these things happen because we don’t step out in faith, not because they don’t work. It is true that not all will be healed, but some will and Jesus has commanded us to preach, heal the sick, cast out demons and raise the dead.

Paul was not superman. He had no special powers of himself. It was all God working through him. It was the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, and the same Holy Spirit that is in you. So, can we put this lie to death that you are not good enough?

You are good enough to be an evangelist, not because you are an extrovert, not because you are smart, not because you can speak well, but because Jesus has saved you and the Holy Spirit will back up your message.

So here’s the challenge. Preach a simple gospel, “Jesus saves.” Then heal the sick.

hEALING rEVIVAL

Wow. I am pumped. I've been watching some videos of a revival that is breaking out in Lakeland Florida. You have to check them out. www.freshfire.ca and google lakeland revival and also youtube and godtube lakeland revival...

God is moving powerfully these days and I believe we can all be part of the revival! God is willing to use anyone who is willing for supernatural ministry. Will you join in? Its as simple as stepping out in faith and praying for the sick...

Why pray for the sick you say? In 2 Corinthians 4:4 it says, "The 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." It continues to say that we need to show that the power we have is not our own but Gods. Therefore, since you and I cannot heal, when we pray for healing and command healing it lifts the veil from their eyes as they see the awesome power of God at work. It doesn't have to be healing, as long as it is not of yourself and dependent on the power of God.

for all you skeptics and for those of you who need a pick me up, check out this video of x-ray proof of a healing... God is great!

grace games

I've been working on a project for church aiming at getting not yet Christians involved in mission. It brings up questions of why do we bother, and can it be mission without them being able to evangelise? Having the good works but not the faith.

Jesus life and ministry can be expressed in one word, grace. His ministry to the poor and oppressed was an expression of His grace. His ministry of the cross was and is an expression of His grace. To take away any of His ministry is to limit His grace.

Therefore, when we talk about ministry lets not talk about things we do, rather lets talk about what we are administering. We are ministers of grace, just as Jesus is the ultimate grace giver, and lets make sure it is a full grace not missing out any aspect of Jesus ministry of grace.

So when it comes to allowing the not yet saved to mission lets be aware that the grace they administer comes from the same source as Jesus did. But lets also be aware that Jesus offers more. Lets build on their grace showing them the ministry of Jesus so their grace may become full.

There seems to be some places around Salvo circles that hold youth meetings and other meetings and count all the people that are coming, they get happy with the numbers, then one day they realise that alot of the people are 1) already saved and 2) just popping in from other corps. This suggests that there is a serious lack of 1) care for the unsaved and 2) outreach to get people saved.

Our meetings have become too Christian, they have become too apatheitc, mediocre, lukewarm, selfish. My understanding of a Salvation Army meeting was to get people saved and sanctified. Today we go to sing and to 'worship.' Don't get me wrong, those things are fine. But how about this.

Instead of counting how many people are in your meeting, try counting how many people there are outside your meeting in your 1) your sphere of influence (school, work, friends, family...) and 2) your community. (town, city, suburb...) that are going to hell because no one bothered to tell them that Jesus saves, sets free, brings wholeness, forgives, accepts, heals, delivers etc

We have a good message to share, why don't you share it today. Call someone up, email, myspace, facebook, street preach.

Theres a dieing world to save

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...
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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!
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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!
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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...
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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!
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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?

I'm going to Adelaide for a week! I cant wait to get there and soak up the Holy Spirit times we will be having. Pray for the team that is leading. Pray for the speakers. Pray for the youth that they will be impacted and challenged to lay it all down for Jesus.
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Jesus has come to change the world. It is a simple message. He has given us simple commands. Love God and love others. We get so caught up in theology, structure, routine, ritual etc. This week I'm reading the gospels to see what God is really asking of us.

I encourage you to read the gospels with an open mind, then lets look at what Jesus did and taught and see how we match up...
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I have been reminded that we need to be a holiness movement today. Search your soul, is there any darkness on there? Any bitterness? Resentfulness? Unforgiveness? Any thing that is not of God? Jesus died to take that away and restore your relationship with the creator of all things created. We are commanded to be holy, God reminds us that He is the God that makes us holy, so lets submit to His will and get made holy today by the cross through the Holy Spirit. Now.
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Jesus saves!

HAZARD: ETERNAL PUNISHMENT

I have been flat out this week. Yesterday I went and did some OH and S training for my red card. (Construction site) And I learnt something that has made alot of sense to me. When there is a hazard there is a chain of things to do to make sure that the hazard doesn't eventuate...

Step 1 - Elimination - Is there a way to eliminate the hazard?
Step 2 - Substitution - If we cant eliminate, what can we swap it with?
Step 3 - Engineering - If we cant swap it, how can we change it?
Step 4 - Admin - If we cant change it what policies, procedures can we put in to harm minimise?
Step 5 - Personal Protective Equiptment- This goes with the above steps, what can we wear to protect us from the hazard?

We are living in dangerous times. People are going to hell as we read this blog. That is a BIG HAZARD. People seem to like Jesus but not the church, so what should we do?

We can eliminate the things they dont like about church, the boring bits, the hypocrisy, the rituals, the sitting down listening to one person... What do we need to swap? We can swap the 'conservative' church for new expressions of church. House churches, cafe churches, etc...

But what do we do? We start at the other end of the hazards list. We look at ourselves, ourselves, ourselves. Then we look at the policies we have, as if that would make a difference to anything, and then we look at tweaking the problem. Never do we look at elimination or substitution. And if we do its a last result.

William Booth was not like this. He eliminated things that were preventing people from getting saved. Things like baptism, the sacraments, boring church. He substituted the old form for the new form, for The Army. And people loved it. He adapted for OTHERS. He didn't start off with personal protection and sheets of paper that say how to do things. He started from the top.

What are we doing? We have lost our way. We have lost our tradition. We are not even being logical. We are controlled by this fear of change. Its time to break free Salvation Army! Its already happening in some parts.Llook around your Territory to see some of the logical soul saving thats going on...

I heard a great story the other day from a guy who works at a Salvo Store. A guy stumbled in drunk, then the salvo guy had a brief chat followed by a prayer. The guy left completely sober! God is good!
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A friend of mine was working at a cleaning place. She was earning chicken feed and wasn't too happy until she found out that the Indian guys she was working with were illegal immigrants and they were getting paid under $4 per hour. She reported it and the guys who owned the business got shut down. Lets be on the look out for Asylum seekers, listen to their story and look after them where we can.
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Every place has a DNA. Its what makes it up, so in the church setting beliefs, structures, principles, values etc make up the DNA. One of the key DNA bits of the early church and of the Chinese church is that they multiply. The early Salvation Army had this too, with people of all ages opening fire in different countries, towns and cities.

Has The Salvation Army lost this part of who we are? When was the last outpost your corps started up? When was the last time your corps started a new meeting for different people? When was the last time you multiplied yourself and led someone to the Lord? When was the last time you even thought about doing it?

We need to imprint this multiplying DNA on us again. We need to be telling new converts that they are church planters. We need to plant more churches, corps and outposts ourselves! We shouldn't have to wait for DHQ or THQ. Just do it. Its who we are.

Start dreaming! Where do you think needs a light in the darkness? How can you make it happen? Stop putting it off, just do it. Theres a dieing world to save!

discipled...

"You are designed to achieve what you're already achieving."
Alan Hirsch

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. The results which we are getting, we are getting because that is how we have designed it to be. If we want different results we need to do things differently. Or we can do the same thing over and over again, but expect a different result. We can be insane.

One of the popular theories that has been around is that we will do things the same way but better, and we will get different results. True, but they will only be marginal.

The solution has been asked, "Is it to be a revolution or an evolution?" That is, is it to be a big complete change in a blink of an eye, or are we to gradually get there? Alan Hirsch suggests that it is neither. Rather, we need to start telling a different story. We need to follow the story of Jesus, not of the church. We need to get back to the simple gospel message. Jesus is Lord.

Jesus is Lord is easy to understand and hard to follow. But if we get back to this simple message, I believe everything will work out. The problem is, we are not being discipled by Jesus, or by His story anymore. Thats why people who dare to report signs and wonders and miracles are called extreme or laughed at, or suspect of deceit. Instead, we are being discipled by our culture.

We are being discipled by two cultures. One is the secular culture, the other is the culture of the church. They tell us how things should be done, and to a large degree we follow along without even thinking. We accept the ways things are done. We settle in the mediocre, the apathetic in luke warm. We accept the status quo unaware that the gospel of Jesus is urgent.

Our lack of end times theology and beliefs has led to a lack of urgency in the gospel. There is hell and heaven. People are going to hell. The doctrines are true and tested. And if we want people to go to heaven we need to change. There is a problem in the western church, and the problem is us. So far our story is saying we are dieing. But will we change our story to the story of Jesus?

So, who are you being discipled by? Jesus and His story, or the culture and the tradition of the church?

Alan Hirsch

Ive been at Forge Mission Conference and the Youth workers and interns conference this weekend, they're all tied in together. Its been pretty good. My highlight so far has been listening to Alan Hirsch.

He's basically told us that we have been getting discipled by our culture, through materialism, consumerism etc and that the church is in decline in the one third world. Both statements are true. He then goes on to say that China which rose from 2 million people to 130 million people in 60 years without "leaders and buildings" is the pattern for us to follow.

People ask him how they did it. And he likes to get people in a room and not let them get out or get a drink until they've worked out how. "Everybody knows how, they just dont act on it." I believe this is true. Often we overlook how simple the message is. We also have a problem with leaders. That is, we rely on them.

The Biblical way of leadership is not based on "leadership" but rather what we are set to be... Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds and Teachers. (Ephesians) Then he says when they all work together it works. It creates a movement. But we dont operate in that system. "Every movement in decline is driven by shepherds and teachers." You need the APE at the front, they're the ones that pick up steam. I could say so much more, but I'll leave it for my next post...
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Heres a couple of quotes for you to look at in the mean time...

"In my redemption is the redemption of the world.

"Our loss of eschatology has led to a loss of urgency

"Father Christmas (Santa Clause) is a materialistic pedophile

On consumerism, tv etc "Everyday we are being discipled into another story.

"The culture is discipling us, not Jesus

He explained how in Australia we have the Tall Poppy Syndrome, where we cut down to size our leaders, heroes etc This makes leading people hard... In the USA they have Heroe Worship, ite easier to lead people as they follow champions... We need to find a new Champion following...

"The basic message is "Jesus is Lord." Easy to understand, hard to follow...

"The best critique of the bad is the practice of the better.

"Pacify now is spiritual and moral cowardice.

"You're designed to achieve what your already achieving.

Praise God! A guy from the breakfast club got saved today! He devoted His life to living for Jesus. We prayed that He would be filled with the Holy Spirit and He had a glory fit and fell on the ground! Hallelujah! As he lay on the floor you could see he was clearly deep in prayer. One cool thing was that he was doing the palms up prayer and he said they got too heavy to hold up! The Holy Spirit was filling and overflowing him! Please pray that his commitment will not weaken but will grow stronger every day as he ministers in his school!
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We've got a new group. Not sure what to call it yet. Probably C.A.T.S Community Action Teams. 4 groups that the followers of Jesus in Plenty Valley Youth are expected to be involved in, Power Evangelism, Fair Trade, Servanthood and Fund raising. So far its going really well and we have opened it up to any youth to join, so we are building some great teams that will serve the community and give us opportunities to lead people to Christ!
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Just saw OASIS on ABC. It really really touched me. Not really sure what to say, but I will reflect on that over the next few days.
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I spoke early in the week of prophetic boundaries/rules. Heres the basic run down...

When giving the word you must test the word
is it encouraging, building up and or edifying?
is it line with the word of God?
is it line with the fruit of the Spirit?
is it true?
we also need to test the source: is it of God? Is it of us? Is it of the enemy?
is the voice/vision/person speaking etc in line with the fruit of the Spirit?

When receiving the word
dont accept it all as from God straight away
test the word against scripture, the church, the Spirit
is it true?
does it make sense?
if it doesn't make sense "put it on the shelf" leave it there until it is confirmed

New Discipleship?

We have been struggling, like most churches with discipleship. Christian kids have always been in Bible studies, they know alot about the Bible yet they find it hard to apply it. In our corps we see 80% of the work done by just 20% of the congregation. Meanwhile Christ is calling us to live for Him. The percentages just dont add up.

So last night we gave them a challenge. We gave them 3 ministry choices and they had to commit to being actively involved in one of these each week. The choices were; Power Evangelism, Servanthood, and Fair Trade.

We gave them a form that had a box for every week, and in the box they had to fill out, what they were going to do, where, etc And so the youth worked out for themselves how they are going to be ministering. We're trying to say good bye to the days when the leaders have to do everything. So now, if your following Jesus at Plenty Valley or Macleod, you need to be involved in a ministry group.

We also got them to sign a covenant for this term deciding to read 2 chapters of the Bible each day, pray for people every day, 3 conversations with not yet saved people a week, etc So we're putting the emphasis on them working and living for Jesus. Discipleship this way looks alot more like how Jesus did it. Feel free to copy our idea that we stole from the Bible...

church growth

Ive been reading some of Alan Hirsch's, "The Forgotten Ways" and have come across some cool stats...

Christians in 100Ad = as few as 25,000
Christians in 310AD = up to 20 Million!

Christians in China 1949 = 2 Million
Christians in China 1980 = up to 60 million

To put things in an even better light, When Mao came in to power in China he kicked all the missionaries out of China, killed all the leaders, and in some reports even second and their tier leaders. So when people were allowed back into China they expected to find a small struggling church! But what a difference 30 years can make! Historians are saying its the fastest church growth in history.

Further evidence that church is not about the leaders. If you're not a leader what are you doing? Live out your faith today.

Prophetic Fun

Last night was the kick of our divisions youth 24/7 prayer. I took a group for the 2am-5am shift and we had a blast! We started off with a bit of listening prayer. We just asked God to speak to us and asked Him questions and let Him talk back to us. After a while it was pretty clear that we were all hearing God so we moved on to "Prophetic Piggy in the Middle."

We had someone jump in the middle and we all prayed for them, asking God to speak to them through us. So we asked God "Is there anything you want me to say to them?" We all got answers and it was very prophetic, delving deep down into our hearts. I had a vision someone had of me at Easter camp confirmed along with some good challenges...

After this we moved on to "Blindfold Prophesy." For this one we sat the prayer down in a chair and they weren't allowed to open their eyes. Then we had someone sit behind them. Then the pray-er had to ask God for something to say to them. Again we had some very prophetic words, visions etc and pretty much every time the person praying knew who they were praying for! This was alot of fun as we praised God that we were hearing Him speak to us!

Some of the people there had not heard God speak to them so clearly before and so the night was really really fun! To see the youths smiles when the words they heard from God were confirmed was my highlight. The more I do ministry the more I realise that my job is simply to teach, equip and empower. I dont need to be the person prophesying or anything, I would much rather a group of youths doing it than me just because I'm the 'leader.' Its great seeing that the same Jesus I hear speak to me is the same Jesus that speaks to the youth!

I'm sure I'll get some comments and emails about these games, so this week I will blog about some of the boundaries and rules we have for these games so people dont freak out! But at the end of the day who is going to complain that a bunch of youth simply waited on God to speak to them?

But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. 1 Corinthians 14:3

Holy Spirit

“Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” 2 Corinthians 1:21-22

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:13

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:29-32

I find it interesting that the Holy Spirit is given to us once we believe in Christ. This means that all believers have the Holy Spirit. In fact, the Holy Spirit is our passport to heaven! This is good news for us all!

I use to look up to powerful men and women of God and think "They really have the Spirit!"
I use to look up to pure men and women of God and think "They really have the Spirit!"
I use to look up to passionate men and women of God and think "They really have the Spirit!"
I use to look up to prophetic men and women of God and think "They really have the Spirit!"

And now I realise that yes, they have the Holy Spirit. They rely on the Spirit and acknowledge the Spirit. They are filled with the Holy Spirit. But so do I! What was the difference?

The last passage tells us not to grieve the Holy Spirit. How do we do this? By sinning, and it lists a whole bunch of sinful behaviors.Therefore, if we continue to sin, there is every opportunity that we will lose our Salvation. If we continue to sin the Holy Spirit will be forced out of us and or rendered to the sidelines unable to participate in our life.

Jesus came to give life in its fullness, but many Christians dont realise that to receive this we need to give Him our life. Sadly too many Christians have one foot in the world and one foot in the Spirit. They lose out on the best of fullness of life the world has to offer, (although it really is not life rather sin leading to death...) and we miss out on the fullness of life that God has to offer. They are trapped in this middle place. This place is called mediocrity, apathy and lukewarm. And we know if we are lukewarm we will be spat out!

So acknowledge the Holy Spirit today, cast off all sin. Rely on the Holy Spirit and give in totally to God and the plans He has for your life. Obey Him! Allow the Spirit to transform your life, and the lives of those around you!

WARNING AND ENCOURAGEMENT

To everyone reading this blog. God still does miracles, I have seen Him heal the sick and devils been cast out of people. I have seen God change peoples lives in an instant. God is still alive. He is still working! I hear God speak to me, and i know many people who hear God as well. Sanctification is real, and it is possible to live a holy life, our actions coming out of a heart of love. We believe the Bible is the word of God, it is our rule of faith and practice.

There are however, people who are among our ranks who do not want us to believe these miracles. They see our reports of miracles and scoff, they mock us and make up excuses why they did and didn't happen. They claim they can't possibly be of God. They never accept invitations to talk and listen to peoples personal stories. They seek evidence upon evidence upon evidence when the basic principle of Christianity is faith. They pull down leaders and people of God who work tirelessly, who pray for hours on end, and who have abandoned their lives for the gospel. People who walk in the power of the Holy Spirit are looked down upon as weird and heretical by those who don't have the Spirit, and this causes divisions. They genuinely believe they are doing the right thing by denying miracles for the edification of the church, yet the only people they are denying is God Himself who was the actual person that healed the people, meanwhile the people who were healed know in their hearts that they had a touch from God.

Do not let these people lead you astray. Their motives are buried in fear. Yet we do not live in fear for perfect love drives out all fear! Let your motives always be out of love. Do not claim miracles that are not miracles, do not claim healings that are not healings, do not claim salvations that are not met with the fruit of repentance. Do not get ahead of yourselves, lets seek after God and let Him perform the miracles, and when people see that God is the one who performs miracles we wont have to defend ourselves. Lets make it clear that God is still alive and performing miracles all the time!

Do not treat those who disbelieve without respect. They are doing what they believe to be the right thing and we cannot discourage that. Rather, take every opportunity to pray with them, to lay hands and pray for a revelation from God for them, and once they accept Gods word, pray for an infilling of the Holy Spirit so that they too can walk in the power of God.

Let it be clear that we do not pray for miracles for our own personal advancement. Rather we pray for miracles out of compassion for the sick and lost, praying that God would reveal Himself to people in a supernatural way, that will tear the veil that is over their eyes which prevents them from seeing Jesus in His glory. We must give God all the glory for the Great things He has done, is doing and will do. People, do not steal His glory.

"But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh." Jude v17-23

Supermarket Revival

This is one of my favorite video testimonies! Its from www.jesusculture.org and there are a whole stack of them there! This video shows the simplicity of preaching the gospel. I'm sure you will enjoy it!

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."