So, we were only a couple hours into our first flight on our way to India, and God was already starting to hit me hard. I was watching a movie, and God began to build up my heart for the lost: both the lost in India, but only here in Australia, and Canada and so on... And God kept building that passion in my heart, until I finally just had to shut the movie on and cry with God. I finally understood the heart that God has for the people who don't know Him, and the people that know Him, but don't care to follow. God showed me just a small piece of His heart for those people, and it was enough to put me in tears.
I guess it really blew me away. Here is God, perfect and so amazing, so huge. He really doesn't need us, but He still cares so much for us. He is still so good to us. He gives us to many things in life that we are able to enjoy. When we pursue Him, He fills us. When we surrender and obey, He uses us and gives us purpose. Its so amazing, and God is so so good. I guess the main thing I've been learning over the last 2 weeks is; just how good God is. He is so good to me, He's so good to us all. He's never unwilling to give us another shot at following Him. He's never unwilling to forgive us! And He gives us so much that we really just don't deserve. Yep, thats about it... God's just been revealing to me how amazing and good He really is! and its pretty sweet! :)
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
India!
Hey Everyone,
Team India is heading off from the YWAM base here in Brisbane at 6 am Saturday morning! (21st Nov.) We'll be stopping over in Singapore for a few hours, and then continuing on to Calcutta, arriving around 11pm India time. We've got a hotel booked for the night, and in the morning we have to buy train tickets, which we will be taking up to Darjeeling, about a 14 hour train ride. There are a few ministry opportunities already put together for us, but most opportunities come up last second. I'll post again in India when I have the chance to let you know what we've been doing!
Jonathan
Team India is heading off from the YWAM base here in Brisbane at 6 am Saturday morning! (21st Nov.) We'll be stopping over in Singapore for a few hours, and then continuing on to Calcutta, arriving around 11pm India time. We've got a hotel booked for the night, and in the morning we have to buy train tickets, which we will be taking up to Darjeeling, about a 14 hour train ride. There are a few ministry opportunities already put together for us, but most opportunities come up last second. I'll post again in India when I have the chance to let you know what we've been doing!
Jonathan
Friday, November 11, 2011
Relationship...
Relationship has been around forever - the relationship between God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And then God created us. God didn't need to create us, there is nothing we can do that will add to God or take away, but He chose to create us anyways. God created us to show His amazing love! We were created for relationship, both between God and between others. In the beginning our relationship with God was perfect. But, then man sinned and broke that relationship. And since then, the root of every problem we have ever faced, has been a result of a broken relationship. (I had to think about this for a minute when I first read it, so take a second if you need to as well.)
This applies to our relationship between us and God, and between us and others. The result of broken relationships is shown in every issue: hatred, murder, rape, divorce, abortion, poverty, homelessness, war, abuse, child slavery & sweat shops, issues between parents and children, with co-workers/employers... and so on. If you trace these issues back to their roots, you will realize that they were caused by a breakdown in relationship/dis-functional relationship. This is because so many of us have never learned to love.
In 2 Corinthians 13, Paul talks about love. Paul speaks of amazing things that we can do or posses, but says, if we do not love, then these things are nothing. If we cannot relate with others and show them love, then what we do is nothing. In fact, loving God and loving others is so closely related, that we cannot even love God if we don't love the people around us. 1 John 4:20 "If anyone says, "I love God," but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, who he has seen, cannot love God, who he has not seen." (Our brother not meaning our literal blood brother, but the people we know and come into contact with).
So, if the problem is relationships, then shouldn't we focus on how to be good relators?
I believe one of the biggest issues today is that us, Christians, do not even know how to relate with each other. In John 17:20-26, Jesus prays that we the church would be unified as one so that the world would believe. That is huge! If we the church could get along, and act as one, the world would come to know God! But, I think that is one of the biggest issues in the church today. We have so much trouble getting along. We have so many denominations. Often, we look down on others because of differences; cultural, baptismal, denomination, age/gender, nationality, intelligence, up-bringing, personalities, skill's/talents, strengths/weaknesses and so on. The fact is, we are all different, some of us very different. But that is supposed to be good. The church would never function properly if everyone was the same. We would all be really good at a couple things, but suck at others. God works all things together for good. God uses the differences in us so that we can function properly, reach out and be strong in all areas of society, to all types of people. These differences have torn the church apart when they were supposed to bring us together. We need to learn to celebrate our differences. Sometimes, we may just have to agree to disagree. (Sometimes people need correction, and we can't just ignore the issues and pretend they aren't there. But, I believe we often argue about small theological points that different denominations will never come to an agreement on, and it tears us apart.) Sometimes we need to agree to disagree. Is it not better to have two people in a church who have a disagreement on how to baptize, then two separate churches that the world looks at and ridicules. We need to act un humility and love, and "not look at ourselves more highly than we should." Romans 12:3 That is acting in pride, and pride will destroy and tear us, the church, apart.
We will not always get along with people, sometimes there will be issues that we cannot come to an agreement on, but that doesn't mean we should stop treating them with respect and love. We still need to love our enemies, and the people who persecute us. In the end, that will show people that we are different, and we will be able to point out that difference comes from God. I think it is amazing when churches can get together and do activities together, youth groups, camps, services, youth services, outreaches into the community. Very often were one church may fail, two or three churches together will succeed.
Well, I'm running out of time: I'm at McDonalds using their free WiFi :) So, lets end with a challenge. And, that is to love and be a good relator to all the people around you ;) I know its a challenge, and we will fail at times, but God gives us the strength to keep going and keep trying! People will see the difference in us, and then we can point them towards God. "They will know God is in us through our love!"
This applies to our relationship between us and God, and between us and others. The result of broken relationships is shown in every issue: hatred, murder, rape, divorce, abortion, poverty, homelessness, war, abuse, child slavery & sweat shops, issues between parents and children, with co-workers/employers... and so on. If you trace these issues back to their roots, you will realize that they were caused by a breakdown in relationship/dis-functional relationship. This is because so many of us have never learned to love.
In 2 Corinthians 13, Paul talks about love. Paul speaks of amazing things that we can do or posses, but says, if we do not love, then these things are nothing. If we cannot relate with others and show them love, then what we do is nothing. In fact, loving God and loving others is so closely related, that we cannot even love God if we don't love the people around us. 1 John 4:20 "If anyone says, "I love God," but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, who he has seen, cannot love God, who he has not seen." (Our brother not meaning our literal blood brother, but the people we know and come into contact with).
So, if the problem is relationships, then shouldn't we focus on how to be good relators?
I believe one of the biggest issues today is that us, Christians, do not even know how to relate with each other. In John 17:20-26, Jesus prays that we the church would be unified as one so that the world would believe. That is huge! If we the church could get along, and act as one, the world would come to know God! But, I think that is one of the biggest issues in the church today. We have so much trouble getting along. We have so many denominations. Often, we look down on others because of differences; cultural, baptismal, denomination, age/gender, nationality, intelligence, up-bringing, personalities, skill's/talents, strengths/weaknesses and so on. The fact is, we are all different, some of us very different. But that is supposed to be good. The church would never function properly if everyone was the same. We would all be really good at a couple things, but suck at others. God works all things together for good. God uses the differences in us so that we can function properly, reach out and be strong in all areas of society, to all types of people. These differences have torn the church apart when they were supposed to bring us together. We need to learn to celebrate our differences. Sometimes, we may just have to agree to disagree. (Sometimes people need correction, and we can't just ignore the issues and pretend they aren't there. But, I believe we often argue about small theological points that different denominations will never come to an agreement on, and it tears us apart.) Sometimes we need to agree to disagree. Is it not better to have two people in a church who have a disagreement on how to baptize, then two separate churches that the world looks at and ridicules. We need to act un humility and love, and "not look at ourselves more highly than we should." Romans 12:3 That is acting in pride, and pride will destroy and tear us, the church, apart.
We will not always get along with people, sometimes there will be issues that we cannot come to an agreement on, but that doesn't mean we should stop treating them with respect and love. We still need to love our enemies, and the people who persecute us. In the end, that will show people that we are different, and we will be able to point out that difference comes from God. I think it is amazing when churches can get together and do activities together, youth groups, camps, services, youth services, outreaches into the community. Very often were one church may fail, two or three churches together will succeed.
Well, I'm running out of time: I'm at McDonalds using their free WiFi :) So, lets end with a challenge. And, that is to love and be a good relator to all the people around you ;) I know its a challenge, and we will fail at times, but God gives us the strength to keep going and keep trying! People will see the difference in us, and then we can point them towards God. "They will know God is in us through our love!"
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Road trip #2 !!
Hey everyone!!
So we’re half way through the road trip! We headed down to Byron Bay for the first week. We had lectures on Covenants, and it was really good. We studied the 7 main covenant God made throughout the Bible, and what they meant, how they worked. It was pretty cool. At first I was kinda wondering how it would all tie in, or how it was useful, but it really helped me understand parts of the old testament more. We teamed up with YWAM Byron Bay for lectures as well as for a couple chances to reach into the community. Byron Bay is a huge place for backpackers to hang out. We set up a few volley ball nets and played soccer down at the beach with backpackers and locals. Then on friday night we had a free bbq in one of the parks and a few people on the team played some live music. It was really good. A lot of people came out and everyone was quite open. We had a lot of good conversations. Saturday morning I got the chance to try surfing as well! Seven of us went out at 5 am and surfed for a couple hours before lectures, which was a lot of fun!
We packed up saturday afternoon and headed to Fingal Head, an aboriginal area, for the weekend. We hung out with the pastor and some friends of their saturday afternoon, and I got the chance to skin and eat a wallaby! One of our outreach teams led a small church service sunday morning, and visited a larger one at night. Monday morning we headed for Stradbroke Island. We took a fairy from the mainland over (there is no bridge) and we camped there till this past sunday. We had lectures on spiritual warfare, which was really good. We learned a lot of really practical stuff that we can all apply and pray out.
We also had team building games throughout the week. Angel, Stephanie and Dominic, who work on “Go Teams” at the WYAM base in Brisbane, put it all together. We split up into our four outreach teams and competed against each other. A lot of the games were similar to the games played on Survivor. It was a lot of fun. We also had to do a course through a swamp, getting through different obstacle courses, quizzes and eating not-so-enjoyable food, while being timed. It was really good. Our team wasn’t too good at the “creative” type games, but we did really good at most of the other ones, especially the physical games since we had four strong guys on the team! At the end of the week, our team placed first! God showed us some of our strengths and our weaknesses through the games, and we were able to talk about it and make some plans to get stronger in the weak areas. It was really good prep for going over seas, because we got to see how our team would function together in all kinds of different situations, how we would react to different things and all that. It was a really good week! The last two weeks we were always close to a beach, so in our spare time we got to do some swimming and surfing, which was really nice! We were also able to speak to some different people in the park and at the beach and share our faith with them!
Sunday we left the island and headed to Toowoomba. We’re staying at a campground 15 minutes outside of the city, and are having lectures on missions this week. We will also be doing a bit of outreach to youth. Next week we’ll be in Chinchilla for the week, and our focus is outreach. I’m not sure what we will be doing for outreach yet, but I’ll find out next week when we pull into Chinchilla.
Jonathan
So we’re half way through the road trip! We headed down to Byron Bay for the first week. We had lectures on Covenants, and it was really good. We studied the 7 main covenant God made throughout the Bible, and what they meant, how they worked. It was pretty cool. At first I was kinda wondering how it would all tie in, or how it was useful, but it really helped me understand parts of the old testament more. We teamed up with YWAM Byron Bay for lectures as well as for a couple chances to reach into the community. Byron Bay is a huge place for backpackers to hang out. We set up a few volley ball nets and played soccer down at the beach with backpackers and locals. Then on friday night we had a free bbq in one of the parks and a few people on the team played some live music. It was really good. A lot of people came out and everyone was quite open. We had a lot of good conversations. Saturday morning I got the chance to try surfing as well! Seven of us went out at 5 am and surfed for a couple hours before lectures, which was a lot of fun!
We packed up saturday afternoon and headed to Fingal Head, an aboriginal area, for the weekend. We hung out with the pastor and some friends of their saturday afternoon, and I got the chance to skin and eat a wallaby! One of our outreach teams led a small church service sunday morning, and visited a larger one at night. Monday morning we headed for Stradbroke Island. We took a fairy from the mainland over (there is no bridge) and we camped there till this past sunday. We had lectures on spiritual warfare, which was really good. We learned a lot of really practical stuff that we can all apply and pray out.
We also had team building games throughout the week. Angel, Stephanie and Dominic, who work on “Go Teams” at the WYAM base in Brisbane, put it all together. We split up into our four outreach teams and competed against each other. A lot of the games were similar to the games played on Survivor. It was a lot of fun. We also had to do a course through a swamp, getting through different obstacle courses, quizzes and eating not-so-enjoyable food, while being timed. It was really good. Our team wasn’t too good at the “creative” type games, but we did really good at most of the other ones, especially the physical games since we had four strong guys on the team! At the end of the week, our team placed first! God showed us some of our strengths and our weaknesses through the games, and we were able to talk about it and make some plans to get stronger in the weak areas. It was really good prep for going over seas, because we got to see how our team would function together in all kinds of different situations, how we would react to different things and all that. It was a really good week! The last two weeks we were always close to a beach, so in our spare time we got to do some swimming and surfing, which was really nice! We were also able to speak to some different people in the park and at the beach and share our faith with them!
Sunday we left the island and headed to Toowoomba. We’re staying at a campground 15 minutes outside of the city, and are having lectures on missions this week. We will also be doing a bit of outreach to youth. Next week we’ll be in Chinchilla for the week, and our focus is outreach. I’m not sure what we will be doing for outreach yet, but I’ll find out next week when we pull into Chinchilla.
Jonathan
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)