Todd Bentley

I have been watching and reading some stuff Todd Bentley preaches and I am not convinced that he is a false prophet. Yeah I cringe when I hear him speak about angels and encounters. But he always says that who or what it is that is appearing to him in visions is not the big deal. What the big deal is is the message. And from the messages I have read and heard him speak about they seem fine and they seem to always bear fruit.

And as I was looking around I came across this from Bill Johnson found on his website...

What do you think about Todd Bentley and the Lakeland Revival?

"Todd is a good friend, but more importantly, he is a friend of God. I've met very few people in my life who are hungrier for God and will take extended periods of time just to seek Him. God has entrusted him with an extraordinary outpouring for a reason—He can trust him to do whatever He says, regardless of the opinions of others. He is bold—amazingly bold. The miracles are legitimate and increasing. The church of America has asked for a great revival. God wonderfully placed this move in a package that few would have expected, just to see if we're as hungry as we say we are."

And

Recent response to the above answer:"How in God's name can you endorse Todd Bentley?" This is my response:

Have you spent time with Todd? Do you know him? Have you watched him with his wife? Or have you seen how he treats his kids? Have you spent any time with his staff? Have you been to his ministry? Has he been to yours? Have you laid hands on him and prayed? Has he laid hands on you and prayed? Have you grieved over tragedy together? Have you celebrated victory together? Has he sought your counsel? Has he traveled a great distance just to meet with you privately for advice? Have you ever received his counsel? Have you been in the room when God has showed up on him, and used him in stunning miracles? Have you seen him operate in the word of knowledge or the prophetic? Have you met with his counsel of elders? Have you personally benefited from his gift? Has he benefited from your gift and ministry? Has he ever honored you for who you are in God? Has he partnered with you as a friend? Have you sacrificed for his welfare, or that of his family? Have you sought God with him? Have you ever worshipped the Lord with him?

I didn't think so. I have. And I'll continue to support those who I have walked with in life and ministry. He's my friend. More importantly, God calls him friend. And if you and I were ever friends in that level, and people hated you and turned against you, and started web pages to tear down your ministry, and criticized you to your friends, and wrote against you in Christian magazines, and criticized you on the radio and wrote emails to other conference speakers and authors, I'd still be your friend.

By the way - criticism in the form of a question is not a question. But to respond to your statement, "How in God's name can you endorse Todd Bentley?" It's easy. I do it in God's name.

Bill

I'm not going to criticse him because some things seem weird and I don't get them all. Todd waits on the LORD far more than anyone reading this blog guaranteed. After all, " But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." and " For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight." And "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."

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!

A question...

"You seem very certain in your beliefs. What convinces you that Christianity is the one true religion?" Clint

Thanks for your comment Clint! There are lots of ways to answer this question so I hope the following question suffices, if it does not please let me know and I will try again!

God is holy and God is just. We know that there can be no darkness in light. For example, when you turn on the light you never stand there wondering if the dark will overcome the light, the light always prevails. Thats what God is like. He is light and there is no darkness in Him at all...

On the other hand we humans do have darkness in us. We all sin (fall short, miss the mark etc see the side of the blog for some definitions...) and this for one makes us guilty of breaking Gods law, and leaves a stain of sin on us.

This makes it impossible for us to be with God, because there is no darkness in light. This means we are separated from God and destined for the place where we are dealt the punishment for our sin. Hell.

But God loves us. He is desperate for us to be with Him. To have relationship with Him. He wants to give us life in its fullness and definitely not hell. So God sent Jesus to die on the cross, to take our sin, our punishment for us. So that we can be purified and be with God. When Jesus, who is blameless and without sin, died on the cross He took our sin, and as He rises we too can rise with Him.

That is why Jesus is the only way. He is the only one that has, or can take away our sin leading us to a relationship with God. God is holy. God is just. And only by His grace can we be saved.

Once again, there are many reasons... Let me know what you think.

REVIVAL

Revival is happening.

I watched a bit of the Lakeland Revival this morning. Click here to watch more. I saw Todd Bentley preach and teach a bit and I have to say that I was impressed. I have never doubted what is happening in Lakeland. I have had doubts about Bentley in terms of exaggerating when it is not necessary. I've also had some concerns about some reports of the angelic experiences he has had. (In particular about the book of hebrews...) I have also wondered how much glory Jesus is getting, and the call to repentance or lack thereof.

This morning he preached Jesus. Jesus crucified. He preached that we preach with a demonstration of the Spirits power. Heres a bit I tried to write down, not quite word for word...

"I'm not getting anointed to heal. Jesus was about changing the atmosphere, demonstrating the Kingdom He is bringing. Thats why He said, "Your Kingdom come." When you pray, pray that it would be heaven on Earth, Get heaven to show up. When you pray pray that the Kingdom of heaven would show up." He continued to say that we need to show people the Kingdom!

I still have questions, but he definitely preached the gospel, definitely called for repentance, and definitely gave all the glory to God!

Also, he says has heaps of documented healings and they're asking everyone who has been healed to go to the doctor and get a written report. He then told everyone that he will give the documents to any major media station that ask for them.

click here for news articles on the Florida outpouring (theres quite alot!)

click here for some questions and answers about the outpouring (i have only peeked at this so far but it does cover a few issues...)

Also, Catch the Fire revival in Hallam is still going. I'm taking people, if you want to come let me know! Lets position ourself where God is showing up in really cool powerful ways which are demonstrating the Kingdom of God!

CATCH THE FIRE REPORT

Last night I went to the Catch The Fire meeting in Hallam and it was fantastic. I have to admit, I was a little cautious going in as I have never heard Danny Nahlia speak and knew some of the controversy which surrounds him. But I was very impressed...

Jesus was glorified. Danny and Jason Golden were great at reminding everyone that Jesus is to get the glory. They repeated that there was nothing great about them rather the God who used them was great. I saw them pastorally rebuke a couple of people for idolizing them and told them to glorify Jesus instead.

When we walked in they were in the middle of an altar call with people sprawled out on the ground after falling after receiving prayer. As they prayed for me I fell over and was paralysed for some minutes. I was in the presence of God and felt so at peace. God telling me just to relax and focus on Him, to soak in His presence. They were not praying/asking for this to happen, it was just a simple prayer for each person and if something happened it did, if it didn't it didn't and they moved on. No loud shouts of 'bang' or 'boom' no showmanship, just prayer.

There was lots of healings. But before they started praying Danny told everyone that the miracles accompany the message they actually want people to hear, the message that Jesus died and rose for our salvation and that is the greatest miracle of all. A little frail lady came in in a wheel chair and after some prayer she got up and was walking everywhere. The smile on her face was priceless! More deaf people could hear, a 13 year old girl deaf in one ear since birth was brought by her parents and she was healed! It was very emotional for that family.

There was alot of deliverance taking place too. There was an altar call for those who were addicted to come down the front and receive prayer. Danny explained it that God can touch you now, but to keep it going you need to follow Jesus and obey Him. Danny precisely prophesied and named demons and curses and prayed for these people. There was a great team of staff who counseled these people as Danny prayed for others. No one was left alone after the deliverance and the staff were more than capable.

The story of these meetings has been in the local newspaper and when someone was healed or set free they are asked to fill out a form saying their name and phone number and what happened so that when the news papers call they can say talk to these people about what happened. Danny wants it this way so that the papers dont talk about him but rather God and what He is doing!

The worship was good but nothing special, in fact some would say boring. There was no glitz or glamor, absolutely no hype, no going crazy, just a whole bunch of people seeking God.

The team kept repeating that this isn't to be something thats locked up in the church, rather if you get healed here then go home and heal someone there, you get saved here, go get your family saved type thing. The emphasis is not the meetings rather people being activated for the salvation of the world.

In my opinion, you need to get there and check it out. I'm going to go back, this time with more people, and I encourage you, that if you are skeptical, and not sure about these types of things, have a pray then go check it out for yourself.

30 Star Crescent Hallam
Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri start 7:30
Sat, Sun start 6:30

blessed...

Check out http://catchthefire.com.au/blog/
They report a huge host of miracles going on in their meetings they have been having this week. Alot of healing and deliverance is happening, and alot of people are getting saved! Hallelujah! I'm hoping to go, and if you doubt whether God still heals and does these things pop down and check it all out!
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Do you believe God loves you?
Do you believe God wants to bless you?
How does God bless you?

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I want to thank God for blessing me. Dieing on the cross, rising, sitting at the right hand of the Father. Sending the Holy Spirit. Family. Friends. There is heaps of stuff.

Some may know that my tooth got hit and it broke in half a while ago. I was praying that God would heal it. I know quite a few people thought that was stupid, and some of those people have told me. But thats ok. So, with the wedding approaching I was getting more and more worried...

I said to God, "You're the one thats telling us to get married at this time, and you know I have no money, so please provide me extra money or make a new tooth grow by Friday." When that Friday came nothing had happened to the tooth. But I received a phone call out of the blue asking me to do some laboring for a floor grinding company. I then worked all the shifts they gave me and the amount of money I earned minus the tithe was just over the price that got my tooth fixed!

So, while some may laugh, God healed my tooth. He gave me the money to get it done and I praise Him for that. Sorry Lord for ever doubting you.

I believe God answers prayer, just not always how we expect/want Him to.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

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.

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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!

Apathetic and Mediocre?

Following yesterdays post WJE asked me when I was going to come back to mainstream Christianity. (Because I'm so out there!) I then went on to say how I thought mainstream Christianity is mediocre, apathetic and boring. So, of course people want to know why I think these things. This is what I think, feel free to disagree!

Mediocre

1.	of only ordinary or moderate quality; neither good nor bad; barely adequate.

2.	rather poor or inferior.

I use to fit right in with mediocre Christianity. It was nothing that different from how other people lived their lives. I had a belief and i was a good person. I prayed, I read my Bible, I did all the things I was suppose to do. I had a mainstream Christian life. Nothing 'extreme.'

But then I got filled with the Holy Spirit. How did it happen? I asked God to fill me with the Holy Spirit. And He did. Physically my hand shook for 4 hours and we couldn't stop it. But that wasn't the big thing, my heart changed. My attitudes changed. Not only that but my faith increased. And from this moment on I stepped out of mediocrity. I still had mediocre times in my life, but I had tasted something sweeter than what I had ever had before.

That has just grown and grown since then. These days I see people healed regularly. I see people get saved regularly. Visions, prophecy and words of knowledge are common place now. So, when I look back to how life used to be and compare it with now, everything else seems mediocre, its ordinary.

Apathetic

1.	having or showing little or no emotion: apathetic behavior.

2.	not interested or concerned; indifferent or unresponsive:

Now heres a word that I use to describe the mainstream Christian church. Little to no emotion! Not really interested or concerned. Why do I think that? I think that because much of mainstream Christianity doesn't care. Mainstream Christianity is about alot of good things, good morals, good attitudes, doing good things etc. But I see no emotion from mainstream Christians for the millions of people going to hell. They just don't seem to be all that concerned.

I read the Bible and see a God who has compassion on people, who heals the sick, casts out demons, provides, protects and speaks. I see a God who changes lives in a blink of an eye, not just to show people His party tricks, but because He loves them. Yet mainstream Christianity looks at these things and say they are nice, but then, doesn't expect the same today.

What am I advocating for? I'm advocating for a faith that is not just a head thing, something I learned from being at uni, or a belief system I grew up with. Its not just a warm feeling that I am saved. Its not just something that is good, and good to other people.

Im advocating for a fiery hot faith of which I'll blog on that later...

what to believe?

Check out Simon Maplebacks blog, hes got a couple of good vids on Oprah. I've had problems with her for ages so its good to see these videos... Ive only watched 2 of them but they reveal some interesting things...

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Someone asked me about how I can follow so many different types of people with different beliefs and practices and asked how I work out what to take and what to drop.

I barrack for Port Adelaide. I like most of our players, I think they are good. But some of them really need something a bit extra, they need to do things differently. When I look at other clubs I see players I think would work really well at my club. I would love to have Buddy Love in our forward line, Garry Abblet in the middle, and Scarlett down back. I don't want them to bring their own club, just themselves. I want a Port Power Buddy Love, a Port Power Abblett... That would do nicely...

William Booth did similar sorts of things. He took things that worked from one place, disregarded what wasn't that great and blended a whole bunch of things together. (One example Army with Church...)

So, for myslef, I take Way of the Masters 'Good Test' and some of their teaching, but I reject some of their Calvinist roots of election and pre-destination, I like some Extreme Prophetic stuff like giving people words from God, but some of their theology can bother me too. I love Charles Finney, Wesley, Booths, Bonnke, etc but it doesn't mean that everything they say I will agree with. But I am more than happy to take the bits do agree with!

I like to test things against Scripture, reason, history, tradition and experience. The main thing though is Scripture. If people disagree with me from Scripture I am so much more willing to debate and listen to them. Scripture is the authorative text that I will work with...

So, heres to having a Port Power dream team...

MUST WATCH

THIS IS A MUST WATCH VIDEO. ITS SOOOO FUNNY!

Letter from an atheist

Ray,

You are really convinced that you've got all the answers. You've really got yourself tricked into believing that you're 100% right. Well, let me tell you just one thing. Do you consider yourself to be compassionate of other humans? If you're right, as you say you are, and believe that, then how can you sleep at night? When you speak with me you are speaking with someone who you believe is walking directly into eternal damnation into an endless onslaught of horrendous pain which your 'loving' god created, yet you stand by and do nothing.

If you believe one bit that thousands every day were falling into an eternal and unreacheable fate, you should be running the streets mad with rage at their blindness. That's equivalent to standing on a street corner and watching every person that passes you walk blindly directly into the path of a bus and die, yet you stand idly by and do nothing. You're just twiddling your thumbs, happy in the knowledge that one day that 'walk' signal will shine your way across the road.

Think about it. Imagine the horrors Hell must have in store if the bible is true. You're just going to allow that to happen and not care about saving anyone but yourself? If you're right then you're an uncaring, unemotional and purely selfish (expletive) that has no right to talk about subjects such as love and caring.

James Franz

The entire discourse between Ray and this atheist is now in a fascinating book called, Intelligent Design versus Evolution—letters to an atheist

Taken from www.wayofthemaster.com

THE LAW AND EVANGELISM

I've had some people question me with one of the ways I do evangelism. The matter in question is the 'Good Test.' The test is used to get people to admit their guilt before we step into the grace of God. This is done by asking questions relating to the 10 commandments. But some have not liked this approach thinking that if we ask these questions then we need to live underneath all the law otherwise we are hypocrites. So, I'm going to try to show what I think scripture teaches on the subject...

In Galatians and Romans Paul speaks about how Abraham was declared righteous before the law, before circumcision. Paul continues to speak how we cannot be justified by the law, we are only justified by the grace of God in Jesus Christ accessed through faith.

Galatians 2:15"We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' 16know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified."

The law, or obeying the law does not save us. This leaves us with the question, what is the law for? Paul tells us, "But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin" and "The law was added so that the trespass might increase." The law is there to show us our sinfulness. The law was never going to save people, even Abraham who was credited with righteousness was done so before the law was given but he was credited as righteous because of his faith. So the law is there to show us our sinfulness and to point towards Christ who saves.

But not everyone is under this law that was given to the Jews. "All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law." So how can we use the law if people are not under this law?

"Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them." So the law can be used if it tugs at their conscience. In our world everyone knows that murder is not acceptable, we know that dishonesty is wrong. We all have a conscience and we have all gone against this conscience at some stage.

So when we use the 'Good Test' we are using it to get people to admit that they are a sinner, they admit because their heart, their conscience tells them they have done the wrong thing."For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." When we use the 'Good Test' we use it to point towards their need for Jesus.

When we evangelise we want to proclaim the grace of God, we want people to know they can be saved. But before they know that, they need to know they need saving. We use the "Good Test" to show them that yes they need saving. The test does not accuse, rather we ask questions and their own thought accuse them! They see that they are a sinner! "But where sin increased, grace increased all the more!" Hallelujah!

The 'Good Test' is not needed all the time, nor is it 'the way' to evangelise. But it does bring people to aplace where they see the need for a Saviour and gives us a solid platform to preach the love of God.

Why signs and wonders?

It seems I have confused some people with what to emphasize in ministry. Some are saying that I am emphasizing Signs and wonders and miracles too much when the focus should be on the death and resurrection of Jesus.

I completely agree that the most important emphasis should be on Jesus and His death and resurrection. Without a doubt. If I had a chance to preach one thing to a person on the street and I had to choose between Signs and wonders or Jesus and His death and resurrection I would choose Jesus and the resurrection. This is plainly seen in my ministry, if you come and witness with me you will see that I am all about getting people to realise their sinfulness followed by the grace of God found in Jesus death and resurrection.

So what do I see as the role of signs and wonders? I see the role of signs and wonders as confirming the message, as demonstrating the message, as an act of Gods compassion. I see it as one of the ways God uses to take the veil of the sinners eyes (1 Cor) to point them towards Jesus. I also believe that if God has given us Spiritual gifts we need to use them!

In TSA we often speak about what the point of the social services are and sometimes people who just want us to 'preach the gospel' get upset that we are helping and not preaching. But the fact is that God has told us to love the poor, to help people, and that by us doing that it preaches the gospel to them. If we only help and dont use words to preach though then it is in part defective because we want people to know Jesus and they can only know if we tell them. The same is for signs and wonders and miracles. God has commanded us to do participate with Him in doing them, they are part of the gospel but they must always point towards Jesus and our response of faith, obedience and repentance.

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Heres a list of why signs and wonders from a Wimber book...

Authenticating the message
Establishing the church
Demonstrating Christs mercy and compassion
Bearing witness to the truth of Christs claims about Himself
Demonstrating that Gods Kingdom has arrived
Showing Jesus was the one promised by the Father
Illustrating in the physical what God wants to do in the Spiritual
Bringing people to repentance
Showing that the gospel is for Jews and Gentiles

GHOSTING (P.S.I)

I love my sports and heres one I think is going to catch on...

Giving

Plenty Valley Westfield has just opened up down the road from our corps. This means that some of our youth no have jobs and are making money. So the need has arose to speak to them about giving, in particular money.

I was talking to someone yesterday about how to talk about it and without thinking my first comment was something along the lines of "giving back to God." Its a term I've heard from lots of people and its just in grained into me. However the person I was speaking to quickly rebuked me and got me thinking about it better.

Giving back to God terminology is no good. It implies that we get to keep this part and we give God this other part. This can lead to people thinking, 'Well, I've given this part, thats it... The rest is for me.' When really what God is looking for is all of us. All of our money is Gods. So it shouldn't be about what percentage we give, rather it should be about how we look after all of our money. Now it turns into stewardship.

Once its stewardship (looking after something for someone else) everything changes. Its not about percentages but the way we manage all of our money. This fits in really well with holiness theology of giving ourselves, every area of our life.

So, are you giving a part of your self, of your money? Or are you using it ALL for Gods glory?

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!