more encouragement than you can poke a stick at

I was so encouraged last night. Some of the best fellowship I've had for a while.

At Regeneration, we listened to what I would now rank as one of the top 3 sermons that have impacted me in my life - Paris Reidhead's 'Ten Shekels and a Shirt'. (I was telling my bros last night on the way home that the other two were probably 'Five Steps to Genuine Revival' by Iain Paisley, and 'Regeneration & Self-Denial' by the Washer Machine (Paul Washer) - I haven't given THAT much thought into my top 3 picks, but there you have it). If you haven't listened to the Tens Shekels sermon, you need to - seriously. It has absolutely changed my perspective on evangelism and has (as Reidhead says in the sermon) 'reversed everything' and 'righted it all'. After listening to this sermon a few times, the penny has finally dropped and my understanding of evangelism and a lot of other things has changed and deepened.

Some statements and points that stood out for me in the sermon include:

• Humanism - aims for the happiness of man
• Christianity - aims for the glorification of God
• God intended to make man happy as a by-product, not a prime-product
• God is an ends, not just a means
• We evangelise for God's sake, not for us or the souls we witness to - He endured the agonies of Hell for all the people on earth and as such, He deserves the reward of His suffering
• We shouldn't try to make a deal with God... We should obey Him all the way - even if (after all is said and done) He chooses to send us to Hell - we should be OK with that because that is what we ultimately deserved in the first place
• People go to Hell, not because they didn't hear the Gospel, but because they are sinners who love their sin and because they deserve Hell
• A repentant heart is a heart that has seen something of the enormity of the crime of playing god and denying the just and righteous God the worship and obedience He deserves!
• The only way for God to get glory out of a man is if he comes to the cross (Galations 2:20)
• God should not just be our fuel... He should be in the driver's seat.
• It's not what you are going to get out of God, it's what He is going to get out of You
• Moravian Evangelism Catch-cry: May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering

What was also encouraging was the testimonies that were shared at the 30in30 meeting after Regeneration - the way that God has moved in this month so far has been sooooooo awesome. 30in30 has been such a blessing to so many people and I am just so happy to be a part of it and to be so blessed as to have the privilege of hearing such testimonies (you can check them out here!).

To top it all off, a group of us headed over to Fast Eddy's in Cannington for supper and had some really great fellowship once again! We talked about the sermon, 30in30, evangelism ideas, and Lilian and Selina also got the opportunity to share the Gospel! I think we were having true Christian fellowship for the whole time that we were there and it was truly such a blessing.

Thank God for brothers and sisters in Christ and the blessing of fellowship!!