Appleseed Travel Journal - The Best and the Worst: a Child Soldier and a 12-Year-Old Entrepreneur
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Selasa, 21 Oktober 2014
Some
of you saw this picture that I posted on Facebook of the gun-toting
guard at the Uganda border who looked to be about ten years old. It’s
hard to imagine children living with this kind of pressure.
At
that same border, we met Michael, a twelve-year-old entrepreneur. The
day we crossed was a national holiday so Michael was not attending
school. Rather than take a day to play, he was selling bananas and
honing his business skills (according to his own statement). He was
articulate, engaging, and very shortly had me handing him 20 shillings
for a banana that I wasn’t interested in eating.
"Yours is the Power"
"Yours is the Power"
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”
MATTHEW 28:18
The only legitimate power in the universe belongs to the Lord Jesus –
all other power is either illegitimate or temporal. If THE power belongs
to Him, then it cannot belong to anyone else. Jesus says, “All
authority [power] has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” That is a
very broad statement, is it not? Absolute power over all of creation!
In a world in which men (and devils) wrestle for dominion, joust for position, seek the preeminence for themselves, strive to exert their influence over others, and lust for more and more control over one another, we as the Body of Christ may simply raise our hands to heaven and lift up our eyes to our Head in Whom God has vested all of His omnipotence and declare to the universe, “YOURS IS THE POWER, and apart from You, we can do nothing.”
Source: The Irresistible Kingdom by Chip Brogden
Raw and uncut from Tajikistan
Hello Friends
Raw and uncut from Tajikistan
"Pray
as girls from the mercy home are helping other girls that are in the
streets and we found a place to gather girls there twice a week from the
streets, hopefully feed and help. Also guys from the streets.
Mercy homes are full, so making side meetings will help, with God's wisdom.
This month i will go to Pameer as there are 2 brothers and a sister renting a house and work with girls and guys.
In
Kuliab town, there is a family, they 'graduated' the mercy homw and
they took kids forsaken by drug and alcohol addicts, couple is Victor
and Tanya, ex convicts.
It
is very hard to find ministers who would dedicate themselves to street
ministry. We raise ours, but it is very small number for such a work.
Every winter kids are freezing and dying in slums and brothels without
the Lord, if only each church took just a part of these people, they
would get saved, but they wouldnt which is a tragedy of Christianity
today. But at one time Jesus will ask from them like in Matt.25:34-46.
Pray for our team, we are doing whatever we can.
Love and blessings,
Serge”
Every blessing to all who pray
Every blessing to all who help us help
Your gifts make a difference
Your brother
Steve
Good Out of Evil?
Good Out of Evil?
“You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good.”
GENESIS 50:20
The story of Joseph is not just the story of Joseph. It is the story of
how God works everything together for His Purpose. No matter how far
removed from that Purpose things seem to get, eventually we see its
fulfillment.
At some point in eternity we will all stand before God and will finally see His Ultimate Purpose fulfilled. Then we will look back on the sad history of the human race and we will see how God brought something good out of every evil thing that ever rose up to challenge His Purpose. For some people the existence of evil is a stumbling block. If God is good, why does He allow evil? A better question is: how can God allow evil and still manage to bring something good out of it in the end? Evil is not a stumbling block to an all-powerful, all-knowing Creator who specializes in bringing good out of evil. What He did for Joseph He will do for all Creation.
Source: The Irresistible Kingdom by Chip Brogden
The Travail of Creation
The Travail of Creation
"We know that the whole creation groans and
labors with birth pangs together until now.”
ROMANS 8:22
Just as all things are working together towards God’s purpose of
increasing Christ, so all things are working together towards decreasing
us. It does not matter if we understand it or comprehend it. It does
not matter if you believe in it or agree with it. You are being
decreased just the same, and Christ is being increased. It MUST be so,
therefore it IS so.
Scientists call this decreasing “entropy,” and it means, “inevitable and steady deterioration.” We can observe this in creation. The present things are groaning and laboring in pain, deteriorating in order to make way for a new heaven and a new earth. We begin to die as soon as we are born. We can look in our own bodies for evidence of “inevitable and steady deterioration” as we move towards a redeemed body. But more importantly, WE, the “I,” the “Self,” is being decreased that Christ may fill us.
Source: The Irresistible Kingdom by Chip Brogden
Looking back on the last seven years (Part 1)
Looking back on the last seven years (Part 1)
April 29, 2014
April 29, 2014
Seven years ago, I was at one of those scary transition points. DAWN Ministries was
coming to an end. DAWN (an acronym for Discipling A Whole Nation) was a
remarkable ministry that had played an important role in seeing tens of
thousands of churches planted in countries around the world. It was at
DAWN that I first heard the idea of fulfilling the Great Commission by
seeing a church (Christ incarnated) within easy access of every person
in each country. (For more on DAWN, see http://www.sebts.edu/cgcs/images/DAWN-Vstatement.pdf
I had worked in DAWN for six years as part of the North American Team.
I was comfortable there. The larger organization handled things like
administration and finances. (Not my strengths!) And, the North
American Team worked together to develop and implement our strategy. (I
always felt I worked best as part of a team. Not having to be “the”
leader.) But, all of this, for various reasons, was coming to an end.
“Lord, why is this happening? What do I do now?”
Slowly,
I began to feel that the Lord wanted me to start a new ministry that
would focus not just on North America but the whole world. The vision
remained the same. To fulfill the Great Commission by seeing a church
(a vibrant family of Jesus) within easy access of every person in each
country. The new name was to be LK10 Ministries because
it is in that chapter, Luke 10, that we see the clearest picture of
Jesus’ strategy for the expansion of the Kingdom of God.
The
prospect of having to start something new from scratch frightened me.
I felt very inadequate because I knew I didn’t have the necessary
skills and gifts. I felt like I was the last person who should be
founding a new ministry. And, yet, I also kept feeling that this was
what the Lord wanted me to do. Three things gave me courage to move
ahead. First, the Lord told me that all He expected of me was
faithfulness. Each day I was to listen for the few, small assignments
He had for me and then, be faithful in doing those. Just take the next
small steps. (See Lk 19:17 and Mt 25:21) Second, my wife, Tamela, was
supportive of this new direction. And, third, my friend, Kent Smith
(who had been part of the DAWN Team) was supportive. He said that he
thought this was from the Lord and that he would journey with me in it.
Recently,
I surveyed our Regional Coordinators about what has happened through
LK10 in their areas over these last seven years. Their answers were
quite amazing! In my next post, I’ll share with you what they said.
John
Because He Lives
Because He Lives
“In Him we live and move and have our being.”
ACTS 17:28
The Law of Life means that I do not try to be or do anything in my own
strength. Instead, the Life leads me, the Life instructs me, and the
Life gives me the words and the actions.
I am not a Christian because I believe in the Bible, follow the teachings of Jesus, and live a good life. I am a Christian because Christ is my Life. Since Christ is my Life, I no longer live, but it is Christ Who lives in me. I do nothing to achieve this, it just is. Because He lives, I live.
Source: Lord of All by Chip Brogden
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