Wednesday, May 13, 2009

RAISING A GODLY ALTAR IN US

An altar is place were sacrifice are been offered. Matt. 5:23 explain about bringing gifts to the Altar and sacrificing unto God. 1st Kings 1:3.

But you should know that there are two types of altar, Psalms 118:27. The Burnt Offerings Alta and the Altar of Incense and also your body, as living sacrifice unto God.

Read 1st Kings 3: 1 – 5.

There was a separate altar for incense burnt in high places and also an altar for burnt offerings in those days.

But what we need to know is this, in today’s world of Christianity, how do we locate the altar of God in us or raise the altar of God in us, as the word of God says, your body is the temple of God, do not defy it.

So apart from the altar on which, we call the pulpit and the Pastor stands to preach the word of God, you should have the understanding that raising a Godly altar unto God today is not by sacrificing ramps, goats, sheep or by the burning of incense.

Because Christ was the last and great and ultimate sacrifice for our sins, so for us now to raise a Godly altar we should know that it has to be this.

1. Your body is the temple of God, which is the Holy Sacrifice acceptable by God, so keep it Holy. Psalms 50:5

2. Sacrifice of Praise Unto God. Heb 13: 15.

And many others forms of praising God and thanking with Thanksgiving these are the sacrifice we should do to day Unto God to raise a Godly Altar in Us.

This would give us Grace for our eyes to be Open for greater things to come in our lives.

For were the vision is clear, the journey is faster. But were Vision is blur the journey is slow. Peace Be Unto You.

MAKING EVANGELISM OUR WAY OF LIFE

(PART 2)
I believe by now, you would be happy to learn something different about evangelism, as I was when I learned about it too. I want you to learn and practice it as well and come to the full understanding of it. Let's kick it off with this explanation once more to finally send our message home to you all. Imagine talking to someone who has a wayward lifestyle and he or she says to you, "after all you would tell me it is a sin, and that I would care less what you think about me ". Note here that the sinner or unbeliever already knows what you have in mind, being that most Christians always want to look so pure before unbelievers when talking to them, rather than identifying and not been identical". The point is when evangelizing you do not force people to become a Christian over night, or for them to be open to Christianity, but through the Love of Christ Jesus that you would show him or her, that person would come to know Christ Jesus and follow up from there. But at the same time having in mind that you have to know when to put forth "no" if the person tries to attack you with words, because for some it works for those who are ready for the word of GOD and for some it doesn't. Those that are not ready, as you would note, "many are called, but few are chosen". Most importantly we must always see these people as Christ Jesus sees them, looking at them through Gods perspective. We must not at any time think that a drinker, smoker, liar or murderer or cannot be open to the word of Christ and accept Christ if talked or preached to. If the person says to you that you would say to him or her, that their lifestyle is a sin, you would rather say to him or her that is properly true, but God hates sin and not you. Explain that sin is the opposite of God and it's destructive and can lead you to brokenness and more so that God weeps when you sin. This would make the person you are preaching to understand the Love of Christ and that he hates the sin, and not the person. Always show people that they have a right to their thinking, but they maybe surprised of the emptiness they feel as a result of their own thinking. God wants to fill it for them and not leave a single vacuum unfilled. We must learn to accept people the way they are (Luke 7:36-50). You "identify" with someone, but not "identical". Why, because identifying allows you to be able to have access and talk with them, but identical means you are like them in sinning. Listen to this conversation between two close students, Becky sleeps on the upper bunk and the other Christian sister sleeps on the lower bunk and they were really good in sharing greetings but Becky is a party goer. One day she said to the Christian sister, I like you so much, lets get together and smoke a joint this weekend, and the Christian sister told her, I like you so much Becky, but I cannot do that, I rather do something else with you together! Becky was surprised not because the Christian girl couldn't smoke grass, but because she didn't discriminate her at all. The point is this incidence changed Becky. When we are in the affirmative with non-Christians, we discover some contact points that would help us reach out to them faster. What I want to stress out is this, when we want to identify, we should know to what extent to identify in such relationship and not loose our scriptural principle. It's important to know ourselves. What I do know is God can never call you into a situation you cant handle, so if your still a baby in the Lord there are certain areas you don't talk yourself into when identifying with non-believers. As a born again Christian you must be lead in the spirit to know the way out by using the right words for situations that seems unbearable. A writer once wrote, while she was flying from San Francisco to Port Land and at the counter, a friendly male ticket agent said to her hellooooooo there! And she said I'd like to pick my ticket to Portland please. The agent said I am sorry, you won't be able to fly there tonight. She said why? Is my flight cancelled? And he said no, because your going out with me tonight!"What?!" she said.I am sorry I really must get to Portland... do you have my ticket? She insisted that she really must get to port land.Well it is okay... too bad they! I can't find your ticket!It looks like a date he said.She said oh, I am so sorry I forgot to tell you that it is a special ticket! Oh it is a youth fare she whispered to clergy!Suddenly the man froze!!!!!Clergy He shouted, the entire crowd looked their way, he looked pale, oh no I flirted with a nun! Then, he disappeared behind the counter! The conversation here shows that the devil didn't only tempt Christ, he can tempt you to!! The devil comes in many forms trying to distract you when your even on a mission to serve God. The point is, God would always give you a word for every situation you find yourself in.
Always know that you are always not identical with the world, but that you are special unto God.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Breakfast in Uganda, Lunch in Sudan, Tea in the Congo...

Breakfast in Uganda, Lunch in Sudan, Tea in the Congo...An SOFJ team reports from Africa...By Tim Heathcote
Eating on the run!
The School of Frontier Journalism from South Africa is travelling through their internship. Here, they report on the adventures they encounter as communicators for missions. For more info on the SOFJ, please email : ywamafricom@gmail.comWe left the YWAM base early, and thumped along the bumpy dirt road to Koboko, close to the Sudanese border. Four people, shoulder-to-shoulder in the back of an old Peugeot, dust billowing around our faces, chickens, goats and cyclists scattering in every direction as we jolted past. Breakfast was a stand-up snack of hot chapattis, freshly cooked at a roadside stall.Two hours later we had crossed into Sudan and reached the border-town of Kaya. Dozens of heavily loaded trucks lined the road, waiting for clearance to continue up to Juba, the main city of New Sudan, as the bottom half of Sudan is called. Pouring rain welcomed us, and the potholed red-dirt road quickly turned to a running stream. Our host Tijwog met us and took us for lunch in a small restaurant. Posters cut out of magazines lined the walls: Barack Obama surrounded by photos of ‘Africa’s strong Presidents’, with centre-stage given - to the delight of Zimbabwean team member, Pam - to Robert Mugabe. Lunch was a delicious feast of keserah – a dustbin-lid sized chapatti-style staple, made of maize flour – with five various sauces ranging from a Dinka-meat dish called sheiya, red and spicy, to an intestines and ochre sauce, green and slimy. Tijwog took us on a tour of the ‘Prayer Mountain’ where he lives, showing us the primary school, small radio station, and various vocational training programmes he runs with Bedpiny, his wife. I first met Tijwog and Bedpiny three years ago, when they were students on Arua’s Crossroad’s Discipleship Training School. The Sudanese couple had lived for years in Cairo, pastoring in a large international church, before moving back to war-torn southern Sudan as missionaries to their own people. Now they own 60 acres of land, on a granite outcrop with spectacular views of the region, just outside Kaya. The visionary couple have sacrificially pioneered a range of projects, and are desperate for partnerships with others to help their work move to another level. Ironically, they find it far harder to raise finances now that the war is over, just when the rebuilding work is actually possible. People give to war zones, and whilst the Darfur refugee camps in the west capture the world’s attention, southern Sudan is being forgotten.Having had breakfast in Uganda and lunch in Sudan, Tijwog jokingly announced that we needed to take tea in the Congo. So we drove in his Pajero deeper into Sudan, until we reached the Congolese border, just before a small town called Bazi. Tijwog lives in the south-westerly corner of Sudan, where the corners of Uganda and the DRC all meet. The Sudan-Uganda border was a bustling place, full of travellers and trucks. The Congolese border, by contrast, was a bush-affair: a simple metal boom across the mud track, the customs and immigration officials sitting in two small grass thatched mud huts. We greeted the officials, and were allowed to cross into the DRC briefly to chat with some soldiers. Arabic greetings switched to French as we introduced ourselves. Pam, the Zimbabwean, was once again greeted with delighted exclamations of ‘Robert Mugabe!’ and asked ‘so you are the one who chases away the whites?’Driving along a little way, we stopped in Bazi. The houses on the east of the road lie in Sudan, those on the west in the Congo. So we turned left into the Congo, entered a tea-shop, and drank chai - black, hot and sweet as honey.As darkness closed in on us later, high up on the peak of Tijwog’s granite mountain, we sat in his house listening to some of his story. The night was windy and very cool, so we all opted not to take a cold bucket bath, deciding instead to sleep covered in the red-dust of three different countries.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

DISCIPLES OF THE WORLD

The radical transformation of this generation will release prophetic and apostolic callings to bring restoration and transformation in every sphere of today’s society. The DTS in Amsterdam is specifically called as a Nations2Nations (N2N) DTS. In a N2N DTS, you will get a taste of what is written in Revelation 7:9. People from many nations and different cultures will gather in Amsterdam to worship, dance and pray together to celebrate and honor God. You will be one of them! Visit the website www.nations2nations.org for information about the vision, events and history of N2N. This particular N2N-DTS will focus on bringing healing and inner- transformation of our hearts, and then grasp God’s heart for the nations. It will be a time for you to discover your identity and destiny as God’s passionate warrior and history maker! We will run together, and we will spiritually invade the nations to build the kingdom of God. We are calling out NEW WAVE! Bas Rijsken (The Netherlands) & Mina Choi (Korea/USA) 
School leaders – N2N June DTS 2009 TopicsThe lecture phase features subjects taught by speakers from around the world. Some major Topics include:• Character & Nature of God• Father Heart of God• Brokenness and Inner Healing• Identity in Christ• Spiritual Warfare & Intercession• Holy SpiritDTS Dates• Lecture Phase: 29 June -11 September 2009 (11 weeks in Amsterdam YWAM, De Poort) • Outreach Phase: 14 September – 4 December (12 weeks in Various Locations: Europe & Asia) • Debriefing and Graduation: 7-11 December (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

WHAT IS ON BASE - YOUTH WITH A MISSION

About YWAM
Youth With A Mission is an international movement of Christians from many denominations dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world. Also known as YWAM (pronounced "WYE-wam"), our calling is to know God and to make Him known. Back when we began in 1960, our main focus was to get youth into short-term mission work and to give them opportunities to reach out in Jesus' name. Today, we still focus on youth, and we also involve people of almost every age (even many people who choose to spend their "retirement" in active service). Our many ministries fit into three main categories: evangelism, training and mercy ministry. We are currently operating in more than 1000 locations in over 149 countries, with a staff of nearly 16,000.
Read more about who we are and what we do.
"YWAM stands for Youth With A Mission. When I'm in conversation with people who are unfamiliar with YWAM, I like to actually use the whole name, 'Youth With A Mission,' because I love to see their reaction to those words used together. I think most people find those words just a little dangerous or perhaps exciting. Maybe they think it's not such a good thing for youth to have 'A Mission.' And maybe it would be better if it were 'People' with a mission as 'Youth' are impulsive and hard to control. If they get a 'Mission,' why, they might just change everything! Exactly." - Tre Sheppard, YWAM staff in Harpenden, England