GETTING MARRIED

I'm getting married today!
Wont be blogging for 2 weeks but you can keep us in your prayers!

1pm Moreland Salvos
Everyone is invited!

Thank you God for blessing me with a great soon to be wife!

Mike Gug Testimony

Wow. I just watched this video and it is an awessome testimony. Have a look!

ACTS 4 Lesson...

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

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

Heres a few points from this short account.

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

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

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

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

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

Catch the fire!

I recieved this email today from Catch the fire...

Dear Family and Friends in Christ,

What a mighty God we serve! The revival meetings are into the 3rd week and people are beginning to travel from distant places to soak in His presence. We constantly give all glory to the Lord as those coming are receiving most powerfully from the Lord. Night after night the presence of God has been increasing as people stay and soak in His presence for hours at the altar.

Some said, “We’ve been use to only 15 minutes for worship, but now we worship God for hours and it seems not enough.” What an amazing statement, but then through worship (being in the presence of God) people have encountered healing and lives have been radically changed in the past 18 days.

Hungry souls continue to be healed, delivered and set free with many lives being surrendered to Jesus for the very first time. In the last 3 days, 2 ladies suffering with MS (Multiple Sclerosis) have been healed by the power of God. Both could hardly walk, but as God touched them they began to run – so exciting to witness as God reveals His power to heal.

Many more deaf people received their hearing! Every one clapped and rejoiced when one man in particular who was deaf for many years (in both ears) received his healing. The neighbour who brought this man (who also needed a healing touch) got so excited and started shouting because her friend received healing, that she forgot why she came to the altar! Her friend leaned over and whispered to Pastor Danny, “She needs healing from Asthma.” It was her turn to shout with joy and thanksgiving for her healing when she received mightily from the Lord.

Two other ladies suffering with 'Chronic Fatigue Disorder' for years were both brought to the altar, helped by family members. God healed both instantly and they started running all over the place.

Another woman was brought to the altar and placed on a chair as she could not stand for long due to a condition where her legs were so weak, with accompanying ongoing pain all over her body. When Pastor Danny prayed over her she arose from the chair and the rest is history. It wasn’t long before she started running and then literally leapt off the stage, as God’s goodness touched and healed her completely.

Many others were delivered from demonic activity. The demons leave resisting, but must go. One lady who got set free was set apart as a priestess in a coven, or possibly better known as a 'blood line Satanist'.

We are so encouraged to see so many young people and children coming night after night to drink from the refreshing river from the Lord. It is amazing how many young people who have been suicidal or have attempted suicide several times, have been set free in the name of Jesus from every demonic affliction. Almost every night there are similar testimonies of how they come out of darkness, depression and death to life, freedom and liberty. Free to live at last!

Pastor Danny said, “Our desire is to serve and assist the local church to arise into its God-given destiny and have the Body of Christ empowered by the power of God, so that they can release His love and fire in their community and reach the lost into the Kingdom of God’.

It does seem however, rather than being part of what God is doing in Australia (and rejoicing that it is happening at last) some pastors seem troubled that Pastor Danny may be inclined to start a church and they will be affected, so have decided not to promote the meetings. This is unfortunate and unfounded. Let me reiterate this very clearly, Pastor Danny has not been called by the Lord and has no plans to start at church.

We welcome local pastors to the revival meetings to come genuinely to drink from this wonderful refreshing river of the Lord, and to be empowered as their people are, to go back to their churches revived, encouraged and full of fire to see the Kingdom work escalate and gather many from the harvest God has prepared.

Here at Catch The Fire we love this nation of Australia and it is my belief that each of us (no matter what position we may hold in accountability to the Lord and His people) need to go deep into the river and swim in the provision and goodness of the Lord so that as the Body of Christ we can see this nation bow her knee before her only Lord – Jesus Christ.

In holding the meetings for four nights a week (Tues, Wed, Fri & Sat), we have sufficient rest, but can sustain weekly as long as the Lord leads us to do so. Please do come and soak in His presence and anointing to see lives changed.

We are prayerful that the body of Christ will not miss this opportunity given by the Holy Spirit at this now time, as we are aware of the hearts of many pastors and flock have been genuinely crying out for revival consistently for years now. What if this is the beginning of what we were waiting for??? Will you delay or embrace what God is doing? How we would love to see you come and join with us! We release great blessing over you as you fight the good fight in prayer and action, for the gospel to do its work as you grow in His grace and love.

Literally thousands of people have attended the revival meetings over the past 18 days with up to 50% new people each night. This is extremely encouraging and shows us God’s hungry people want to be satisfied and healed and restored, as they spend time with King Jesus, their soon-coming Bridegroom. See you there…

The Holy Spirit Revival meetings are continuing week nights on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7.30pm with Saturday at 6.30pm. Check website www.catchthefire.com.au for new updates and recent photos, including the leaflet for printing & distribution. Revival, healing meetings in Melbourne are held at Christian Community Church, 30 Star Crescent, in Hallam.

Blessings,
Dianne Johnson
Catch The Fire Ministries Inc

The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

Acts Chapter 2

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

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

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

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

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

Spiritual Gifts

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

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

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

Or

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

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

Step out in faith and see what happens!

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