In this update Pete Greig has posted on the 24-7 web site, he gives our Iceland team another shoutout... read it here. The whole article is just an incredibly encouraging and sobering update as the cause of Christ advances in our day across the earth, and how God is initiating prayer to bring in a harvest...
Friday, April 27, 2007
ZHOP conference tonight, tomorrow
The 'End Times Simplified' conference begins tonight at the Zadok House of Prayer. Find the conference schedule here and the registration information here.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
One pastor's thoughts on church impact
Excerpt from Bob Roberts Jr.'s book, Transformation:
How did this colossal mistake happen? Somewhere along the way, we became lost. I didn’t even realize how lost I was until I saw what the church was really supposed to look like. At first, I didn’t even recognize it; then I wanted to rationalize it. I had to go halfway around the world to find it — in the persecuted underground house church in Asia. I had heard the stories and statistics, but I had never met anyone face to face. For the first time, I found people who were living a Divine Conspiracy, as Dallas Willard would say. They were nothing like me. They were nothing like any believers I had ever met — not even Willard! Not just culturally, but spiritually they blew me away. Sure, their theology is fuzzy. Some don’t even have whole parts of the Bible, only perhaps an entire book or a few passages. But they know God at a depth I never had nor knew anyone else who had.
Worship takes on a completely new expression on the other side of the world. No sound systems, no calculated transitions, just sweaty believers crammed together into small rooms, weeping as the Holy Spirit oozes out among them, as I never before experienced. I don’t know if they are charismatic or not (all I knew was it wasn’t my tongue), but it doesn’t matter. No one is getting rich, and no one is fighting for control or position. If there is a favored position, it is the privilege of being the first to die. Living on the edge as they do leaves little room for insincerity or self-promotion. These people are living what I grew up hearing the church should be.
Through small, indigenous, underground house church networks, these churches are transforming lives and their cultures. They cannot be stopped. There are too many of them, and they are spreading everywhere, every day. Here’s a shocker: Lay people start these movements, not just those “called” to full-time vocational ministry. Their church planting is the result of transformed lives and not the result of a grand strategy, even though the strategy is grand.
The differences are striking and so are the results — so much so that in spite of holding so many degrees and an earned doctorate, I’ve learned more about how to do church from outside America than I ever did inside America. I firmly believe that in order to find the real church, one has to get on a plane and fly west at least twelve hours over the Pacific. And then, one won’t find it in a church building — it will be in a neighborhood. Don’t go looking for it on Sunday, but seek it early in the morning or late at night as people quietly come in singles and pairs in order to not draw attention to themselves.
(end of quote)
How did this colossal mistake happen? Somewhere along the way, we became lost. I didn’t even realize how lost I was until I saw what the church was really supposed to look like. At first, I didn’t even recognize it; then I wanted to rationalize it. I had to go halfway around the world to find it — in the persecuted underground house church in Asia. I had heard the stories and statistics, but I had never met anyone face to face. For the first time, I found people who were living a Divine Conspiracy, as Dallas Willard would say. They were nothing like me. They were nothing like any believers I had ever met — not even Willard! Not just culturally, but spiritually they blew me away. Sure, their theology is fuzzy. Some don’t even have whole parts of the Bible, only perhaps an entire book or a few passages. But they know God at a depth I never had nor knew anyone else who had.
Worship takes on a completely new expression on the other side of the world. No sound systems, no calculated transitions, just sweaty believers crammed together into small rooms, weeping as the Holy Spirit oozes out among them, as I never before experienced. I don’t know if they are charismatic or not (all I knew was it wasn’t my tongue), but it doesn’t matter. No one is getting rich, and no one is fighting for control or position. If there is a favored position, it is the privilege of being the first to die. Living on the edge as they do leaves little room for insincerity or self-promotion. These people are living what I grew up hearing the church should be.
Through small, indigenous, underground house church networks, these churches are transforming lives and their cultures. They cannot be stopped. There are too many of them, and they are spreading everywhere, every day. Here’s a shocker: Lay people start these movements, not just those “called” to full-time vocational ministry. Their church planting is the result of transformed lives and not the result of a grand strategy, even though the strategy is grand.
The differences are striking and so are the results — so much so that in spite of holding so many degrees and an earned doctorate, I’ve learned more about how to do church from outside America than I ever did inside America. I firmly believe that in order to find the real church, one has to get on a plane and fly west at least twelve hours over the Pacific. And then, one won’t find it in a church building — it will be in a neighborhood. Don’t go looking for it on Sunday, but seek it early in the morning or late at night as people quietly come in singles and pairs in order to not draw attention to themselves.
(end of quote)
2 Chronicles 34
God's response to the repentance of the king of Judah includes His following word (verse 27):
because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and you humbled yourself before Me, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,” says the LORD.
because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and you humbled yourself before Me, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,” says the LORD.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Acts 19
Here is the standard, the mark set by the first century Church before every generation:
8 And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. 9 But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10 And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
I believe every generation of Christians is given the privilege to reach its generation, city by city... region by region... nation by nation. You cannot hope to do this without prayer and fasting.
8 And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. 9 But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10 And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
I believe every generation of Christians is given the privilege to reach its generation, city by city... region by region... nation by nation. You cannot hope to do this without prayer and fasting.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Great conference coming up!
This weekend there is the 'End-Times Simplified' conference at ZHOP... Friday evening and Saturday. The main speaker will be David Sliker from the senior leadership team of the Forerunner School of Ministry in Kansas City. It will be powerful and be used by the Holy Spirit to awaken people from spiritual complacency and to stir them to align their lives with the unfolding and unprecedented purposes of God in our day. Register online at www.zhop.org.
More detail from Iceland
There were things the Lord was saying in regards to Iceland during the team's days there, among them was God's word from Isaiah chapter 40. On Thursday morning, we were visiting with a local pastor and as we ended I requested that he pray a blessing over Eric and Katie. I perceived he was a man of peace, and I was prompted in remembrance of Luke 10 when Jesus sent out the seventy disciples:
"When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you."
After he prayed for them a specific verse came to my mind.... Isaiah 40:5
The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
So I spoke this out and prayed that the zeal of the Lord would accomplish this in our day. It was later that night when I experienced the oppression and resistance in the spirit in an intense way for a period of time. Then, when I rose the following morning, I stopped and checked my email on the way to breakfast. I subscribe to the Moravian daily text (an email being sent out by them that follows Zinzendorf's prayer book and includes scripture for every day) and upon checking it that morning, April 13, it had Isaiah 40:5 as the text for the day!
Something was up, God was showing our team an open door and sovereign timetable that was significant in its implications... if the house of prayer is built and the way of the Lord is prepared, then the glory of the Lord will be revealed to all of Iceland! In a nation where maybe 2% is saved, the zeal of the Lord is stirred and He is looking for a company who will pray onto the earth His will as it is being done in heaven. The mouth of the Lord has spoken... though the word of the Lord is being resisted and contended against (cf. the oppression I experienced on Thursday night/early Friday morning) He is asking 'Who will pray?' 'Who will enter into my travail to see the people of Iceland saved?'
Its a real question being asked by a passionate Savior who is looking to see who will partner with Him in intercession. Its a hour to seriously believe Isaiah chapter 45:
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
"When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you."
After he prayed for them a specific verse came to my mind.... Isaiah 40:5
The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
So I spoke this out and prayed that the zeal of the Lord would accomplish this in our day. It was later that night when I experienced the oppression and resistance in the spirit in an intense way for a period of time. Then, when I rose the following morning, I stopped and checked my email on the way to breakfast. I subscribe to the Moravian daily text (an email being sent out by them that follows Zinzendorf's prayer book and includes scripture for every day) and upon checking it that morning, April 13, it had Isaiah 40:5 as the text for the day!
Something was up, God was showing our team an open door and sovereign timetable that was significant in its implications... if the house of prayer is built and the way of the Lord is prepared, then the glory of the Lord will be revealed to all of Iceland! In a nation where maybe 2% is saved, the zeal of the Lord is stirred and He is looking for a company who will pray onto the earth His will as it is being done in heaven. The mouth of the Lord has spoken... though the word of the Lord is being resisted and contended against (cf. the oppression I experienced on Thursday night/early Friday morning) He is asking 'Who will pray?' 'Who will enter into my travail to see the people of Iceland saved?'
Its a real question being asked by a passionate Savior who is looking to see who will partner with Him in intercession. Its a hour to seriously believe Isaiah chapter 45:
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
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