Building Kingdom Culture

On Tuesday evening we spent time with KLB's core group, teaching them the essence of what it means to live the kingdom life. It was wonderful to see how the truth was setting them free as they received spiritual revelation of their identity in Christ. Having come from a more traditional background that still teaches progressive sanctification and essentially salvation by works, we showed them that we are sanctified the moment we are joined to Christ because we are joined to the Holy One who is our Righteousness. It was an amazing time as we literally witnessed veils being lifted off their eyes. Hallelujah!

Yesterday we spent the morning and afternoon with the core group and continued to teach them the essential values of Kingdom Life that form Kingdom culture, which are:

Belong - Faith - Alignment
Relationship - Love - Purpose
Identity - In Christ - Union
Devotion - Worship - Service
Expectation - Hope - Kingdom

In the afternoon, after treating everyone to a Bo's coffee, we taught the group how to minister in the Spirit, showing them how to pray for people in such a way as to make room for the Spirit to do His work and colabouring with Him. It was a powerful time as God ministered to each of them as we demonstrated how to pray for others.

We then had a couple hours break before we went to visit pastor Jonathan's church in the evening. As part of their weekly prayer meeting, we were invited to minister to them. During the worship I received a prophetic word for the people and shared
a message about how God sees us and that we must learn to live for the audience of One. The Lord's presence was tangible and many were deeply ministered to during the sermon. It was a very special evening and I praise God for speaking right to the core of the needs of the people. God truly sees us and knows what we need.

Day 2 - The Secrets of the Kingdom

Glory to God!

Today was our second day of our "Heaven on Earth" conference. Around 200 pastors and leaders have been attending the meetings and we are in awe if what God is doing. To the relief of Frances there were no cockroaches under the toilet seat this morning (I have had to rescue her from 2 already). After our mangos for breakfast and a latte to-go we made our way to the convention hall. 

This morning we looked at the otherness of the Kingdom of Heaven and how

God's Kingdom is a realm that is beyond every limitation. We then looked at the secrets of the Kingdom and how the deep things of God are revealed by the Spirit. Consequently we looked at the need for people to be born of the Spirit through dependence upon Christ to be able to see the Kingdom and enter into the Kingdom.

After our lunch break, Frances spoke on the Kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy. The leaders have really taken to Frances and enjoy her preaching very much. After a short coffee break I spoke on how Christ is God's gift to the believer and that we must learn to live by faith in Him to access the riches of heaven. This evening we took Pastor Julius, Roszel and their daughter Yra-Lee out for dinner to spend some time with them. Yra is the cutest thing and is an extremely gifted child. She is simply a bundle of joy! Her little brother Jonkris is also adorable!

"The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them." Matthew 13:11 

Holiness

Today has been a quiet day and I spent time finishing my book by Andrew Murray entitled "Called by Christ" in which he urges ministers of the church to be earnest about the state of the Church and the need for spiritual renewal in the Body in order to be effective in missions. He writes,

"It is for this that we need a revival, that the Holy Spirit may take possession of us that the Father and the Son can live in us, and that fellowship with them, and devotion to their will and service, will be our chief joy. This will indeed be a holiness revival."

This evening I spoke to a group of youth leaders from different churches and organisations. We gathered in the home of a couple that are youth leaders for Youth With A Mission. The presence of God was wonderful and I was prompted to share about the need for leaders to be examples to the church as they follow the example of Christ (1 Cor. 11:1). We then looked at the holiness and glory of God and noted how God commands the Church to be like Him (1 John 2:6; 1 Peter 1:15,16; Matthew 5:48) and therefore the Church must depend completely on the Holy Spirit to produce the fruit of God's holy presence within her (Gal. 5:22). After God's Word I invited everyone to be prayed for and we had a very special time as the Holy Spirit ministered to each person present. As I prophesied over many, there were tears and conviction of sin and it seemed as though God's holiness began to manifest in the room. It was wonderful. The most amazing thing was that these leaders were from many different denominations including the catholic church! God wasn't concerned about denominations tonight - He was touching the hearts of His people! Christ, the Barrier-breaker! Hallelujah!

After the meeting Berwyn, Julius and I headed for McDonalds as I was curious to compare the taste with German McD's. I had a cheese burger and fries and to my amusement, Berwyn and Julius ordered chicken with ......RICE!! They serve rice at McD's here! Much healthier I suppose!

Tomorrow I will be leading a youth seminar and probably teach on Kingdom Culture. I will need to check with the Boss in the morning.

"Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ." 1 Cor. 11:1

____________________________

Testimonies of God's Grace

Today was another wonderful day in the Lord. The word has spread and over 120 leaders attended today's prophetic leadership conference. A Free Methodist seminary professor cancelled his class and brought his entire class to the conference because he heard about the revelation God is pouring out upon His people. In the morning we continued to look at the nature of the prophetic and after a tasty lunch (including a whole pig and a birthday cake for me), we gave people the opportunity to testify about what God is doing in their lives and what has really spoken to them. We spent over an hour listening to stirring testimonies of what God is doing during this conference. Some testified that they were about to give up the ministry but God has so encouraged them and so strengthened their faith that they have recommitted their lives to His call. The Lord is really enlightening the hearts of the leaders with spiritual revelation and everyone is being revived by the Word and the Spirit - it's more than I could ever ask or imagine. Glory to God!



After the testimonies I taught on "Building Kingdom Culture" and how the leaders can apply what they have learned very practically. The feedback is very positive concerning the simplicity of the communication and the clarity of the messages. God's grace is evident and we are rejoicing in God's revelation to us.

"...this grace was given to me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery..." Eph. 3:8,9

Prophetic Leadership Conference

Today was the first day of our 3-day Prophetic Leadership Conference. About 50 pastors from Butuan and the surrounding villages attended. These precious people are so poor that they would not have been able to attend if we hadn't paid for their bus fare to get to the conference hall! We also included a free lunch and refreshments to bless these men and women of God.

In the first sessions we looked at the diffrence between the natural and the spiritual, and the nature of the prophetic and how it is revealed in the lives of Jeremiah, Jesus, Paul and the early Church. On this first day the Lord led me to emphasise the foundation of "Christ in us" and to encourage the people to realise what they have received in Christ by being united to Him. We also looked at the significance of spiritual revelation and how the believer can only know the secrets of the Kingdom by the Holy Spirit.

The leaders responded very positively and are feasting on the revelation of God's Word. The feedback I have received today is that the teaching is simple, easy to understand and people are able to apply it to their lives. There is a real buzz in our time together - excitement about the revelation of God's Truth, and enjoyment of fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

After the teaching session in the afternoon I invited all those who were hungry for more of God to come forward to be prayed for. Almost everyone came forward with faith and expectation. We began to worship the Lord (without instruments or any "props") and waited for the Holy Spirit to do His work. As I observed the Father touch His people I simply worked with Him and prayed for those who were already responding to God. Once again people wept, laughed, fell over, stood quietly, shouted, spoke in tongues and allowed God to do His work in them. I watched the Holy Spirit fill pastor couples simultaneously as they both fell into the Father's arms. When everyone had been prayed for I encouraged the leaders to do the same with their people and to pass on what they had freely received today. The Lord is equipping His people to spread the fire of His Truth and Presence to the people in this nation. Hallelujah!

We closed the meeting a little earlier than scheduled because the Holy Spirit was done and many of the people still had a 2-hour journey home by bus! These people are so hungry for the Word of God and they so appreciate that someone would come all the way from Europe to share God's heart with them in Mindanao. Apparently US citizens are not allowed to travel to this area because of the radical Islamic terrorists present in parts of Mindanao. Pastor Berwyn had planned for me to visit the "mountain people" on Friday but because of his concern about potential danger, he has arranged for these people to come to his church in Mabini.

Tomorrow promises to be another exciting day in the Lord and I will be sharing some key principles on leadership to help the spiritual leaders become a Kingdom influence in their churches and in their communities. Hallelujah!

"Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, 'Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to build and to plant.'" Jer. 1:9,10