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!!

30in30 - another one!

I tracted my bus driver again today... This is what happened:

Me: Here, this is for you - you can have a read when your shift ends! It's a Gospel Tract!
Peter (the 794 bus driver): About Jesus I hope!
Me: *stunned mullet expression*
Peter (the 794 bus driver): I'm a Christian!
Me: Really? That's great, well maybe you can pass it on to one of your friends
Peter (the 794 bus driver): Thanks. I will!
Me: Thanks! Have a great day!
Peter (the 794 bus driver): shouts while driving off into the sunset God bless you!

This has happened before. Christians tracted (and enouraged) so far: 3 (Praise God!)

prayer meeting - what happened to the good old days?

Whatever happened to Prayer Meeting? It seems that recently, there have been less and less people going to prayer meeting. Tonight there were 7 people from Regeneration and Youth180. I think even the CYPGs had less people than they usually would have.

I realised the paucity of attendance when I was talking to Truc and Dorcas saying that the upper sanctuary used to be so full of lots of small groups of twos and threes praying. Today there were just the three of us.

I am definitely guilty of being a prayer-meeting-skipperer in the past year or so, but since trying to come more regularly I have noticed this change in the scene. For me, the biggest barrier is the great tiredness monster that plagues me regularly (it's fed by my occasional insomnia, and seems to be strongest on Tuesday nights for some reason - funny that). So I don't mean to try to make people feel bad about not going to Prayer Meeting at all (cos let's just say that I wouldn't exactly be one of the fore-runners for a best-attendance award if there was one), but rather I want to encourage people to go.

The opportunity to pray with sisters in Christ is such a great blessing that I often take for granted. Every Tuesday I go through the mental to-go-or-not-to-go shuffle. And when I end up going, sharing my prayer requests, praying and getting prayed for - I wonder why I hesitated so much to go. The peace that comes from passing your burdens to God and helping others do so by praying for them is a truly matchless feeling, that I know God has reserved for His children because He is just so caring and loving to us (who are SOOOO undeserving).

It's kinda sad when I think about how many people used to go to prayer meeting as opposed to nowadays. I guess when you know something is good, you want to share it with everyone and when people just don't seem to see how good it is or realise the blessings they're missing out on, you can't help but feel a little disappointed. Well I do anyway.

The other thing is that the driving force behind revival is of course PRAYER - and if a church's prayer meeting is empty, then so are the chances for revival, really. If there's one thing that the preachers and teachers from the Old School (like Spurgeon, Wesley, Lewis, Sanders) have taught us - it is that the power of prayer can NOT be underestimated. God is real. Prayer is powerful. And revival will always be far from us if we don't realise these truths! So give prayer meeting a go! If anything, it will help kick start your prayer life (something a lot of us, me included, struggle with).

Well that's my two cents worth about that...

30in30 - full of surprises!

This post is a little delayed but here it is anyways... On Friday afternoon, I jumped on the Red CAT bus in the city. When I got on, the bus driver smiled at me and as I stood on the bus, I started thinking if I should tract the bus driver. So after a quick prayer (as well as reminding myself that he did smile at me and he did look pretty friendly - so he was more likely to take the tract), I passed him a tract saying 'this is for you - hope you read it when you get the chance'.

When he took it, his smile got larger and he said 'Praise the Lord! I'm a believer too!'. I said 'Really?!?!' and then he said, 'in fact, I am a Pastor of a Church!'. I can't remember what I said after that but I was genuinely surprised - and absoultely encouraged (as he was too I'm sure!).

30in30 is full of surprises!

PS - 1 minute after getting off the CAT bus I was tracted by a young Korean girl from a Presbyterian church! Double-dose of encouragement! Thankyou God! You knew just what I needed and gave it just when I needed it!

facebook

I will be the first to admit that this blog has been neglected slightly due to the distraction that is...

Yep. This has been keeping me occupied every night for at least an hour as I get caught up in looking up how someone knows someone else who knows someone else. Perth is a very small place! It's nice to see how people have changed over the years (for better or for worse) and it has been good catching up with people that I haven't spoken to for ages and ages.

Might be a good way to share the Gospel with people too somehow - still trying to learn how to use it for good. Anyone got any ideas??

I gotta keep an eye out about this facebook thing - I just want to make sure that I don't spend too much time on this new little hobby. There's a fine line between hobby and obsession!

revival hymn

Transcript can be found here.

This touches me every time I see it. This part in particular was the clincher for me:

Christianity says... "The end of all being is the glory of God."
Humanism says, "The end of all being is the happiness of man."

This is the betrayal of the ages!!

And it's the betrayal in which we live and I don't see how God can revive it!
Until we come back to Christianity.

Isn't man happy?
And God intends to make you happy. But as a by-product and not a prime product.

Now I ask you, what is the philosophy of mission? What is the philosophy of evangelism? What is the philosophy of a Christian? If you’ll ask me why I went to Africa, I’ll tell you I went primarily, to improve on the justice of God. I didn’t think it was right for anybody to go to hell without a chance to be saved. And so I went to give poor sinners a chance to go to Heaven.

Now, I hadn’t put it in so many words. But if you’ll analyze what I just told you, do you know what it is? It’s humanism. But I was simply using the provisions of Jesus Christ as a means to improve upon human conditions of suffering and misery.

And when I got to Africa, I discovered that they weren’t poor, ignorant, little heathen running around in the woods, waiting for, looking for someone to tell them how to go to Heaven. That they were monsters of iniquity. They were living in utter and total defiance, of far more knowledge of God than I ever dreamed they had. They deserved hell because they utterly refused to walk in the light of their conscience and the light of the law written upon their heart and the testimony of nature and the truth they knew.

And when I found that out, I assure you, I was so angry with God that one occasion in prayer, I told him that it was a mighty, little thing He’d done, sending me out there to reach these people that were waiting to be told how to go to Heaven and when I got there I found out they knew about Heaven, didn’t wanna go there. And they loved their sin and wanted to stay in it.

I went out there motivated by humanism. I’d seen pictures of lepers. I’d seen pictures of ulcers. I’d seen pictures of native funerals. And I didn’t want my fellow human beings to suffer in hell eternally, after such a miserable existence on earth. But it was there in Africa that God began to tear through the overlay of this humanism.

And it was that day in my bedroom, with the door locked, that I wrestled with God. For here was... I was coming to grips with the fact that the people I thought were ignorant and wanted to know how to go to Heaven, and were saying "someone come and teach us" actually didn’t wanna take time to talk with me or anybody else. They had no interest in the bible and no interest in Christ. And they loved their sin and wanted to continue in it. And I was to the place at that time where I felt the whole thing was a sham and a mockery and I’d been sold a bill of goods. And I wanted to come home.

And there alone in my bedroom as I faced God honestly with what my heart felt, it seemed to me I heard Him say, "Yes, will not the Judge of all the earth do right? The heathen are lost and they’re going to go to hell not because they haven’t heard the gospel. They’re going to go to hell because they are sinners who loved... their ..sin.. and because they deserved hell. But, I didn’t send you out there for them, I didn't send you out there for their sakes."

And I heard as clearly as I’ve ever heard though it wasn’t with physical voice but it was the echo of truth of the ages finding its way into an open heart. I heard God say to my heart that day something like this:

"I didn’t send you to Africa for the sake of the heathen. I sent you to Africa for My sake. They deserved hell but I love them and I endured the agonies of hell for them. I didn’t send you out there for them. I sent you out there for Me. Do I not deserve the reward of My suffering? Don't I deserve those for whom I died?"

And it reversed it all. It changed it all and righted it all. And I wasn't any longer working for my cup and ten shekels and a shirt but I was serving the living God.

the shadow-meister

This is cool. I remember me and my bros trying to do this whenever my Dad would put on slideshows (the oldschool type with holiday pics etc). I did a pretty mean rabbit, but it was definitely never as good as this. Now this is what I call talent!