Mission in Dark Places

 How did Jesus reach people?

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.” Matthew 11:19 ESV

During His earthly life Jesus of Nazareth was known as a friend of sinners. The strictest observers of the Word of God accused Him breaking God’s law by hanging around with bad people. Were they right?

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Matthew 9:9-11 (ESV)

There are many Christian ministers today who will organise missions and outreaches. Some will invite drug addicts and prostitutes to come to Christian meetings. Why? To preach the gospel and save sinners.

But Jesus went a step further, a very big step further. He accepted invitations to eat and drink with the worst sinners in their own homes. If a notorious gangland boss invited Jesus to a party with underworld people, would Jesus go?

In the New Testament, we read that Jesus not only preached to sinners. He went to their homes and their dinner parties.

Does that mean that Jesus was always available for every invitation from any crook in town? No. King Herod was impressed by the stories of the miracles of Jesus and he wanted to see this new “celebrity” but Jesus avoided him. Luke 9:9 (NKJV)

There are some major Christian leaders today who are campaigning against human trafficking for sex slavery. They are actually going to pickup bars and houses of prostitution to make friendly contact with prostitutes and even sometimes with pimps. 

There are many hard core sinners and oppressed victims who cannot be reached by preaching but only by believers who dare to do what Jesus did, seek out the lost sheep in the dark places and reach them with genuine friendliness.

In one American city an English missionary found that many of the young prostitutes were from Christian homes. After sharing the love of Jesus with them, many turned to God, perhaps for the first time, and many returned to their families.

I know Christian women in Germany who visited a brothel every week. Through their ministry of friendship, victims of human trafficking were set free and some prostitutes became Christians.

But isn’t it dangerous to mix with sinners?

Do not be deceived: "Evil company corrupts good habits." 1 Corinthians 15:33 (NKJV)

I believe this is one reason that Jesus sent out His disciples TWO BY TWO.

The Apostle Paul was single himself but he usually went on a mission with at least one partner in ministry. At various times these included Barnabas, Timothy, Silas and Luke. With the help of the grace of God, Paul penetrated dark places and planted churches in many previously unreached cities.

But there was one place where Paul’s great spiritual gifts only succeeded in winning a few converts. That was in Athens. In Athens Paul ministered alone and without a partner.

There is a new move amongst the people of God. Many are no longer looking to the priest, pastor or evangelist, the spiritual giant on the pedestal. Many are no longer waiting for the Man of God to move.

Many of us are rediscovering spiritual partnership, personal spiritual experience, spiritual community and teamwork. This is the way hundreds of millions will see that Jesus is alive in His people and many more millions will find God for themselves.

Encounter God Personally

 Many years ago a nurse I knew told me of a very old lady dying in hospital. She was very lonely because she couldn’t understand English. She was Hungarian and she also knew German well. 

I wanted to help her, so I got the permission of the Anglican Chaplain to visit her and read the Bible to her in German, a language I know well.

I visited her every day and read the German Bible to her. She listened intently, although she was demented and her eyes and her mind would wander at times.

Finally, one evening I read her the promise of Jesus to give eternal life to all who believed.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 
and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”  John 11:25-26 ESV

Suddenly her eyes stopped wandering and she became clearly focused on the question.

“Yes, I believe!” she answered in a strong clear voice.

I never saw her again because the next day she was dead.

A nurse told me the old lady appeared to be dying six months before but she started reviving. God preserved her life until she could hear the message of life and then He took her to heaven.

There are many people out there ready to believe the message of Jesus but they just need you or me to tell them in a loving way.

This old lady was a Roman Catholic, so she knew about Jesus, heaven and hell and eternal salvation. She just needed to hear a simple clear Bible message.

But there are also people who have heard but are not ready to believe.

Many have been abused or bullied by priests, pastors or religious teachers. Others have seen loved ones torn apart by unhealthy Christian religion.

In recent years bishops, priests, pastors and preachers have been ducking for cover because the scandal has been all over the media. You can tell many people about God, but they will not believe until they encounter God personally. 

Walking Step by Step with Jesus

 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 
and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 
But sexual immorality and impurity of any kind or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints. Eph 5:1–3 NRSVue

There are hidden jewels in scripture which can teach us so much wisdom. “Walking in love” is one of them. Life is a step by step experience. Prayer warriors have activated the power of God to change nations. 

Moses exercised an amazing gift of faith to release the miracle working power of God.

But the most powerful intercessors began their journey with a single step. They prayed short simple prayers.

Billy Graham preached to huge crowds but he started his journey with simple prayers and learning to understand simple bible truths.

The Apostle Paul literally walked from one place to another as he evangelised much of the Roman Empire. 
Jesus Himself preached to crowds but he often took time to minister to one person at a time. He also walked from place to place.

Walking in love is a life lived one step at a time, always motivated by the love of God and a sincere desire to bless others.

When I go shopping, I try to share a friendly word with the cashier in the supermarket. If you see someone who needs a little more money to pay, you can pay for that person yourself. 

Life is a journey but it consists of many small steps, many small tasks, many opportunities to help others.

But there is an unfortunate trap when we use this wonderful biblical word carelessly. Christians speak of their life as their Christian Walk. It becomes a religious expression without any meaning. 

I would rather people never used these words unless they are meaningful and used meaningfully.

Walking in love also teaches us to constantly look for ways of making small changes in our lives, constantly making small improvements as we are led by the Holy Spirit.

Many small positive changes make a huge difference. When you trust Jesus to forgive your sins, your faults don't suddenly disappear, but God helps you to learn and improve little by little.

If you are untidy, you can spend a few minutes each day cleaning up some messy clutter.

If you are not a good bible reader, read a little every day. God will help you to improve and read more.

But there are some faults which we cannot deal with little by little. If you steal from shops, you cannot please God but stealing a little less or less often. Just stop it.

The same applies to casual sex or drunk driving. Just stop it.

God wants you back.

 If you have ever had a son or daughter who turned against you and disappeared, you know what heartache feels like. 

Jesus told a story about a young man who claimed his inheritance while his rich father was still alive and travelled to a foreign country. There was no internet and there were no mobile phones. The father did not mount a search party but every day he went out and looked down the road to see if his son would come back. 

One day he looked out and he actually saw his son in the distance.

I don't want to share personal family secrets but I know what this father went through.

Jesus also told a story of a farmer with 100 sheep. One sheep ran away and was lost. The farmer left his 99 sheep behind and searched for his lost sheep until he found it and took it home.

Today I read a news story about a young couple who went for a holiday on Kangaroo Island off the coast of Australia. They took their one year old pet dachshund with them. One day their beloved Valerie escaped and disappeared into the bush.

They were heartbroken and after searching for 5 days, they had to return home without their pet. The people on the island were very compassionate and deeply concerned. They searched with video cameras and drones for over a year. 

A farmer set up a trap with food for Valerie’s owners were afraid their spoilt house dog might not survive in wild country where snakes and other predators were a constant danger. Finally, a strong, muscular little dog got into the trap. The farmer saw Valerie on his remote video camera and pushed the button to shut the door and lock her in.

Valerie’s owners were beside themselves with joy to get their Valerie back. They had a pet cat and two other dogs but they loved Valerie like their own child.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NRSVue

If you are not in a personal relationship with Father God, He wants you back. He will stop at nothing to win your trust.

(Jesus said…) “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Jn 10:11 NRSVue

If you are not sure you believe, you might be like Valerie, the little dog that panicked and went wild. If you are not sure, you can talk to God. 

“If you are real and you do love me, please help me to believe.”

God wants to forgive you, to love and care for you.

If Christians have bullied you, abused you, or betrayed you, God did not do it.

For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” Lk 19:10 NRSVue

Supernatural Gifts Today

 A conservative Bible-believing preacher in Australia was travelling through the country. As he left one village, the local tribal elders waved goodbye to him.

When he drove into the next village forty minutes later, the same tribal elders greeted him. He was driving his car, but they had already arrived using magical powers.

The preacher knew that he had failed as an evangelist. The indigenous people looked down on him because their witchcraft was more powerful than the theological doctrines preached from the pulpit.

The frustrated evangelist went to a charismatic preacher and sought advice. He had come to the conclusion that charismatic gifts of the Spirit are still necessary today.

In the Bible, we repeatedly find spiritual warfare. Sorcerers persecute the believing Jews and, in the New Testament, the Christians, but the prophets and later the apostles prove through miracles that the true God is stronger.

When Moses stood before Pharaoh, he threw his staff on the ground and God turned the staff into a snake. The Egyptian magicians also produced snakes, but Moses' snake swallowed the Egyptian snakes. 

In Acts chapters 2 and 3, God used amazing miracles to bring thousands of Jews to faith. In chapter 2, 120 disciples proclaimed the gospel in various languages they had never learned.

In chapter 3, Peter and John healed a paralysed man in Jesus' name.

In Cyprus, the mission was hindered by an evil sorcerer.

Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 
“You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? 

Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.” Immediately, mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. Acts 13:9–11 NIV

During the Cold War, a faithful Christian wanted to bring a shipment of Bibles to an Eastern European country. At the border, he had to go through customs. The customs officer looked directly into his car, where there was a stack of Bibles, but he could not see any Bibles. 

From the first day of Pentecost, the spread of the gospel was accompanied and confirmed by signs and wonders. God has never ceased to reveal His miraculous power.
 
In our time, millions of Muslims are converting to Christ. 
Numerous Muslims experience or observe miraculous healings in Jesus' name.
Countless Muslims are visited by Jesus in dreams and visions.

What is God's key to opening this seemingly locked door?
Signs and wonders. What is behind them? God's love for lost souls.
How is God's power released in such a wonderful way? The passionate intercession of faithful Christians.

God Loves Like a Mother

 A young Christian woman was going for a walk when she felt a strong prompting from God. She must walk over to a crazy looking, possibly dangerous young man. She must tell him that Jesus loves him.

 She ignored the prompting and walked on, but she could not shake off the conviction that God wanted her to speak to this wild looking man. 

She finally obeyed. When she told him that Jesus loves him, he was overwhelmed with emotion and hugged her warmly. She was more than uncomfortable, but she didn't resist. Then he told her he had come to this place to kill himself, but now he had changed his mind. She had saved his life.

She then sat down with him and explained the Gospel of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God and he died on the cross to pay the penalty for his sins. If he put his faith in Jesus, and put his whole life in God’s hands, he would be forgiven and have eternal life with God.

He believed and he had a whole new life.

Years later the young woman died of COVID. When she was in heaven, Jesus showed her a crowd of people who had believed and gone to heaven because of the ministry of the young man she had talked to. He had become an evangelist and many people were in heaven because of his preaching. 

Although the woman was happily married, she did not want to leave heaven and go back to her life on earth. But then Jesus reminded her of her 15 year old daughter. Jesus sent her back to earth and healed her. 

She was willing to leave heaven because her daughter needed a mother’s love.

Jesus was in Heaven with the Father, but he was willing to leave the happiness of heaven because you and I needed to know the love of God.

There is no greater earthly love than the love of a mother for her child. This is a picture of how God loves you and me.

God tells us about this in the Bible.

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” 
Can a woman forget her nursing child or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these might forget, yet I will not forget you. 
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. Is 49:14–16 NRSVue

In the Old Testament, God told the Jews he loved them with the love of a mother. In the New Testament, we see that God loves the world with the same intense love. That includes you and me.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NRSVue

Recently I read news report of a mother whose house was on fire. She rushed into the blazing inferno and rescued her six children. She was terribly burned on most of her body. She was in a coma for two weeks but she survived.

This is how God loves you and me. Jesus not only left heaven to suffer on earth, but he suffered the most painful possible execution to pay the penalty for our sins.
Jesus is reaching out to you and me now. He wants to give you a new life.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Mt 11:28 NRSVue

You can talk to Jesus now. He is waiting for your call for help.

God's Frustration

 God's frustration.

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Lk 13:34 NIV

Jesus loved everyone, even the stubborn Pharisees and priests who persecuted him.

… God our Saviour, 
who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Ti 2:3–4 NIV

God wants to save everyone, but many do not want to trust God. 

That is God's frustration.

God sacrificed his best to save everyone.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Jn 3:16–17 NIV

God has plans and purposes that will inevitably come to pass.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 

‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Rev 21:1–4 NIV

But God also has intentions and desires that can be frustrated.

He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. Jn 1:11 NLT

When Jesus visited his hometown, the people did not want to respect him as the Messiah.

Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offence at him. 

Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honour except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 

He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. Mk 6:3–5 NIV

Notice the words, “He could not.” There are things that God can not do unless we let him. God chooses to limit his actions according to our free choices.

God is love. When you love deeply and strongly and those you love, reject you, you feel deep pain. God also feels this pain.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 Jn 4:8 NIV

If you do not experience God's blessing, please do not blame God. 

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. Jn 10:10 NKJV

He wants to forgive you, bless you, heal you, and give you a new life. 

It's up to you. 

You can pray this way and receive God's amazing answer, but you must really mean what you pray.
“Jesus, if you exist, come into my life and forgive all my sins.”

Jesus is not a fairy tale.

‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ Jer 33:3 NKJV

Small Steps Great Blessings

 In the past, God raised up outstanding preachers, missionaries and heroes of faith in this world. I think of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Reinhard Bonnke and Billy Graham. 

Evangelists and Bible teachers are still important, but God's purpose is to equip completely unknown and seemingly ordinary people to establish His kingdom in the end times. God wants to work miracles through you and me. 

History books tell us about great generals who won important battles, but who actually fought? The foot soldiers. Without foot soldiers, pilots, technicians or sailors, famous leaders are powerless.

A young Christian began to pray every morning at 6 o'clock in church. Gradually, other Christians came to pray with him. The Holy Spirit began to bless the entire congregation in a wonderful way.
 
A pastor had a desire to evangelise in his town. He wanted to preach on the radio, but he had little money. Someone in his congregation realised that the pastor needed a computer, and he gave the pastor his first computer. Now this preacher has a weekly radio program. 

I was working in the garden recently. I hurt my back. In the middle of the night, I lay awake in bed. I prayed that Jesus would heal my back. I received an impulse from the Holy Spirit. I had to get up and anoint my own back with olive oil in the kitchen. I lay in bed for a few minutes and then obeyed. When I got up in the morning, my back was much better.

An Indian Christian woman had a friend who was Hindu. She invited her friend to attend her church service. The pastor gave the Hindu woman a New Testament and she read a little every evening. One evening, Jesus himself came into her bedroom and spoke to her. Then she was no longer Hindu.

A friendly invitation. A small gift. A wonderful visit from Jesus.

Jesus wants to use your small acts of obedience to save people.

What can you do today or this week? Move forward step by step.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Gal 6:9 NIV

Spiritual Pregnancy. New Life in the Spirit

 If you grew up in an English-speaking country, you may remember a conversation like this.

“Mummy, where do babies come from?”
“Babies come from mummy’s tummy.”

Of course, we know that the tummy or stomach is for digesting food and babies grow in the womb, or uterus, a totally different thing. 

But in all three languages of the Bible, Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic, there is an interesting word which can be correctly translated as stomach, belly or womb.

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. John 7:37-38 (KJV)

But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:39 (NKJV)

The word BELLY is the translation of the Greek KOILIA. 

The equivalent Hebrew word is BETEN. When Jesus spoke these words in the temple, He may have been speaking Aramaic. 

The Aramaic Bible uses the word: K'aRSeH, which can also mean BELLY or WOMB. These words are often interpreted figuratively as HEART or INMOST BEING.

In the flesh, the womb and the stomach are quite distinct and only a woman has a womb. 
But in the spiritual realm it is a different story.

Jonah went down into the belly of the great fish or whale. When he came out of the fish’s belly, it was like a resurrection. The belly of the fish was like the womb giving birth to a new man.

The satisfaction of hunger and thirst sustains life. This is the function of the belly, to convert food and drink into life, to keep us alive and refresh us.

But the function of the womb goes further. The womb is the place where a seed sown grows into new life until a new person emerges. The stomach sustains life but the womb reproduces and multiplies life.

The inmost being of every born again Christian believer is potentially both a spiritual stomach and a spiritual womb. 

In this spiritual dimension, there is no male or female. God desires to fill us with the Living Water of His Spirit to nourish, sustain and refresh us but He desires more. God fervently desires to satisfy our thirst but then to take us further, to make us bearers of new life for others.

To hunger and thirst for new life and refreshment in your own soul is not selfish. It is essential. But it is not enough. God wants his people to be like healthy young mothers, reproducing, multiplying, bringing newborn again believers into the world.

The conversion of unbelievers is the birthing of new life. Nothing is more wonderful than the restoration of a sinner to the heart of the Father in Heaven.

But evangelism is not the only way to birth a work of God’s Spirit. 
To sing an inspired song, write a book or paint a picture with God requires a joining together of the Spirit of God with the human spirit in an intimate connection like a husband and wife producing a new person. 

Every work of faith involves the bearing of living fruit, like giving birth to a child.
Have you been feeling tired and heavy lately? Maybe you need to stop struggling in your own strength. Get filled with the Spirit who can produce new life in you and then through you.
Or can it be that you are heavily pregnant in the Spirit?

Do you have a vision for a ministry, a mission, a book, a business, a child, a family revived and restored, a move of the Spirit in your city?

You may feel heavy because the baby is nearly due.
Be encouraged!

Some of you are in labour now and your dream or vision is about to be transformed from faith into sight.

God Speaks to You and Every Believer

 In the Old Testament, God led His people by giving directions to prophets, priests and kings.
God often spoke in direct supernatural ways to these ordained leaders, and the people were expected to follow these directions.

When Jesus released the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, everything changed.

“ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Acts 2:17 NIV

Christianity is either supernatural or it's nothing. We are called to be fruitful and multiply.

There is a Christianity that does not welcome supernatural revelations, healings and the active presence of God doing surprising stuff.

The Reformation achieved some good things in its time. Salvation through faith in Jesus was preached. The Bible was translated and restored to the people.

But the Reformation was very incomplete. God is the god of miracles. 

Faith in a God who only did miracles 2000 years ago will not impact the world today.

When Christianity is truly alive and healthy, every believer hears the voice of God and every believer follows Jesus directly and personally.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; Jn 10:27 NASB95

In the Old Testament, the people of God only heard the voice of God indirectly, through the Bible and the words of the prophets who spoke for God. We still read the Bible and it is God speaking through His perfect revealed word.

But how do you know what God is saying to you now?

The Bible says different things to different people in different passages. Is God telling you to rest in His love or to radically change your life?

•     Is God telling you to hide His truth in your heart, or to tell everyone what you believe?

•     Is God telling you to marry or to stay single?

•     Is God telling you to preach in Africa or stay at home?

•     Is God telling you to work in a job or to be a missionary who trusts Him to provide?

Bible reading alone will not answer these questions. Many people resolve this difficulty by putting themselves under the direction of a priest, pastor or spiritual adviser. This is putting a man in the place of God. 

It is Old Testament thinking, but it is common in the church. It is like the old-fashioned Roman Catholic system, where the priests told the believers what the Bible says and what they should do. I hope you don't think I am against Catholics. Many Catholics love Jesus and listen to the Holy Spirit.

What is God saying to you now?

There is nothing wrong with seeking wise counsel and teaching but this must not be a substitute for growing up in faith yourself. A Christian who is spiritually healthy is able to receive direct personal communication from God Himself.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27 NASB95

‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. Rev 3:20 NASB95

In the New Testament, every believer is invited to hear the voice of God and to share with others what he hears.   

“ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Acts 2:17 NIV

Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 1 Cor 14:1 NASB95

Christian Churches Care for People

 The church of Jesus Christ is a community of people who care for people. We care for people because God loves and cares for everyone, believers and not yet believers.

For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 The Living Bible, Paraphrased

The pagan culture in New Testament times was brutal. The husband in Greek and Roman culture was the absolute ruler. He could order his wife to keep a male baby but to leave a girl baby outside to die of hunger or cold.

Slave traders would harvest female babies and raise them to be prostitutes. Christians in the early church would rescue abandoned female babies and raise them as daughters.

Christian churches are called to care for people.

Churches in my city provide free evening meals to people in need. Some churches collect surplus bread from bakers and shops and offer them free to neighbours in need.

The motto of my church is to reach, raise and release.

We reach needy people with free food and not for profit food shops.
Churches in my city have schools for teenage high school dropouts.

Our pastor reaches teenagers by teaching jujitsu. Before that we had a pastor who played basketball with neighbourhood kids. Some of them then came to church and he played basketball with them in the church hall after the service. 

We team up with churches in India and Africa who reach out to their communities with practical help and sharing the gospel of salvation.

We reach people and care for people, raising them up with encouraging counselling and bible training.

We release people into ministry, sending teams on mission trips to Africa, India and other Asian countries.

Where are your Roots? Your life is from God.

 In many churches, you hear a call. The preacher issues an invitation to all who do not know Jesus personally to accept Jesus as their Saviour and Lord. 

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— Jn 1:10–12 NIV

Many pray with the pastor and ask Jesus to come into their lives and forgive all their sins. Then we see how some experience a whole new life. They think differently. They speak differently and they live differently.

But unfortunately, we see others who do not change. Some stay in the church for a while and then disappear. 

Others stay in the church, learn to fit in and become religious, but their colleagues at work see no trace of God's love in their lives.

What is the difference? 

Jesus explained that the message of God's grace is like a seed. The seed must fall into the ground and take root. 

Are you ready to let God's Spirit work deep within your soul? Jesus is no longer physically on earth, but He has sent His Holy Spirit to us. 

• The Holy Spirit wants to help you.

• The Holy Spirit wants to heal the wounds and scars in your soul.

• The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of love.

• The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ. He is like Jesus Himself, but invisible and close to us.

 
When you give the Holy Spirit space in your soul, you will be able to read the Bible in a new way. God's Word will come alive for you.

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” Jn 7:37–38 NIV (from their heart or from their inmost being)

You are like a plant in God's garden. Without roots and water, you will die. 

Where are the roots of your life? In your job? In your family? In your church?

God gives us work, families and churches. These are gifts from God, but only God Himself is the source of your eternal life.

And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust him, too, for each day’s problems; live in vital union with him. 

Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him. See that you go on growing in the Lord, and become strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all he has done. Col 2:6–7 The Living Bible, Paraphrased

Witch Set Free from Demons

 God created you. Your birth was planned and wanted by God because He saw you and loved you before the creation of the world. 

No matter whether the circumstances of your birth were favourable or not, God simply loves you.
No matter what you have done or what has been done to you. God simply loves you.

This creation is corrupt, but not completely ruined.

God has a cruel enemy who wants to poison and destroy all of God's works, and he has done a lot of damage, perhaps even in your life.

No matter what has happened in your life, God has a plan to give you a good future.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 NIV

I once saw a preacher from Brazil in a video recording. She told how she had been dedicated to demons from birth because her whole family worshipped the devil.

As a toddler, she was tormented by demons. She couldn't sleep without terrible nightmares. 

At the age of twelve, she became possessed by demons who drove her to live as a prostitute on the streets. Gradually, she learned to live her life as a witch with magical powers. She became a notorious witch, and Christians prayed for her.

She herself became cruel, but was also terribly tormented. The devil is very cruel, even to his slaves. Her suffering became unbearable until she desperately sought help. She did not know which spirit was stronger, the devil or God, but she prayed for help.

Jesus then visited her and she saw a vision from God, like in a video. She saw Jesus suffering and dying on the cross, taking the punishment for her sins upon himself.

She converted to Jesus, but then her little daughter fell ill. The devils sought revenge and her daughter died, but she herself was forgiven and freed by Jesus.

Then God raised her up to give her testimony. Many prostitutes and occultists were converted. As a witch, she was very dangerous, but as a Christian preacher, she became a powerful weapon in God's hands.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Rom 5:10 NIV