Transformation

On Thursday afternoon we had another planning meeting with Julius and Roszel after which we went to KLB together to celebrate Julius' birthday. It was a lot of fun as we shared food together and honoured Julius on his special day. One of the highlights was a whole pig, what they call a Lechon. It was devoured within minutes!

Yesterday we had a leisurely morning before making our way to the Butuan orphanage that has been relocated until the present orphanage building in Butuan has been renovated. The interim building is a deserted and basically unfinished building where the children have a roof over their heads, and that is about it! It is a building site and the conditions are disgraceful. The orphanage building that is being renovated isn't much better and part of  KLB's vision is to eventually be able to build a home for abandoned children and orphans so that they can live in a safe environment and be fed and educated to give them a hope and a future. It simply breaks one's heart to see abandoned children and infants! I played a fun game with them that I taught them and for a moment I think they could escape their circumstances and have fun together. After a short word of encouragement we had food for them that KLB had prepared in the morning. It was an emotional visit but I praise God that He is the God of all comfort who comforts widows and orphans.

In the evening KLB had their first ever city outreach and set up a stage with sound and light systems to rock Butuan. The worship team did a fantastic job releasing the rhythm of heaven over Butuan and I shared the Gospel of the Kingdom with the many people that stood around the city centre square. We invited people for prayer to be touched by Jesus and many responded to the call. It was very exciting to see people being touched by God's Spirit. Some testified to feeling God's presence in the area of their bodies that were sick and a couple of people fell over under God's power. All this happenend in the centre of Butuan as many young KLB guys, dressed in their blue KLB T-shirts could be seen mingling with the observers and participants. Jesus' name was being made famous and KLB is building His reputation in Butuan! Hallelujah!

This morning was spent with the worship team and Frances and I taught them some of the basic principles of how we lead worship and why we do what we do. After a couple of hours of teaching, we spent some time practising entering God's presence together. These guys are hungry for God and fast learners. It was not long before we had entered God's presence together and God made His presence known. We are excited to see where KLB will take the principles we have shown them further as they develop their own expression and form of the essence of worship.

I praise God for the transformation that is already taking place as people are being touched one by one with God's presence and love. As KLB gets hold of the essence of the Kingdom we will see a steady transformation in the lives of the people here. Hallelujah!

This afternoon Frances will have a session with the young women of the church and this evening we will be teaching the church about Life Groups, their purpose and function within the church. I wonder what I will do with my free afternoon...Bo's or Robinsons? Maybe I can find some more strange things they sell here...

Releasing the Prophetic

Glory to God!

Today we spent the morning in Mabini and I ministered in pastor Berwyn's church, Mabini Christian Assembly. After worshipping in their language and now spotting a few familiar words, I was invited to preach. I spoke on Elijah and the fact that he was a man just like us and an example to us of someone who completely trusted in God. We looked at the account of Elijah challenging the prophets of Baal and the Lord showed us how to draw His fire in our lives as we stop wavering between two opinions and build an altar for Him. It was a powerful word and everyone responded to it as we surrendered our lives afresh to the Lord. (They call the motorbikes skylabs when they have sideboards to carry extra load. Here are 8 people on one bike!)

After a delicious lunch (lots of mangos for mango-man - my name at the hotel) and lots of fun with Berwyn and Liberty's children, we made our way back to Butuan to finish some paperwork and then to speak to pastor Julius' young people. 

The Lord led us to look at the work of the Holy Spirit and prophecy. Frances and I then taught on how to prophesy and then got the youngsters to give it a go. The guys paired up and we invited the Holy Spirit to lead us. After 5 minutes I stopped the guys and asked them to share what God was doing. To the amazement of the group the guys shared what they had received and as their respective partners confirmed they were accurate and some even cried, they were so encouraged that the whole atmosphere changed. Faith was ignited! These guys are in for an amazing adventure with God! Thank you Lord! 

Tomorrow is our last day here in Butuan. I am preaching in the morning and early evening and will possibly be at the radio station again in the afternoon. The Lord has really been revealing heaven on earth here and I am so excited for the young people here!

"Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy." 1 Corinthians 14:1

Day 3 - The River of God

Glory to God! 

Today was the third day of our Heaven on Earth conference in Butuan. We are so impressed with all the guys that are working so hard to make this conference a blessing to all who come. One of the team members is Julius' brother, Aaron (standing next to Frances). We began with another special time of worship led by pastor Julius and his team. I then spoke on our need to be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit for us to overflow with heaven on earth. Looking then at the gospel of grace, I showed how one can explain the gospel using the word G.R.A.C.E. and the need for us to live the gospel and preach it! After a short break we looked at how the message of the gospel is received with power, deep conviction and the Holy Spirit to produce the fruit of the Kingdom of Heaven.

During the lunch break we enjoy fellowshipping with the pastors and hearing some amazing testimonies of God's grace, provision and miracles. After lunch Frances spoke on stepping into the River of God and how the believer must seek to come to a place of absolute surrender to be carried by the Spirit. After our coffee break I spoke on renewing one's mind with the word of God and how to resist the lies of satan. We then offered to pray for the group and many came forward for prayer. Once again the Lord ministered powerfully to the people as they  received deep emotional healing as well as physical healing as they fell under the power of God. We then got some of the Bible School students to soak the people in prayer who were still under the power. We spent time with each dear soul and prophesied over each person. Words of knowledge were given and clearly spot on as people responded inmediately to the Father's words. It was simply amazing and very moving as I held some of the people as they sobbed in my arms. Oh how the Father loves these people!

After over 2 hours of ministry we went back to the hotel to quickly get changed before embarking on a mini adventure by ourselves to the local (and only) shopping mall. We saw some interesting misplaced things like Ritter Sport and Ferrero Rocher as well as a corner in the shop where behind a counter filled with Hostias (communion wafers used in catholic churches) was a selection of wines and other alcoholic beverages. After a quick supper we made our way back to the hotel with a local tricycle. 

It has been another amazing day with God. Tomorrow we will be looking at releasing and imparting the Kingdom of Heaven through serving and then Frances and I will wash everyone's feet. I can't wait!

 "There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the Holy Place where the Most High dwells." Psalm 46:4 

God at school

Today I was invited to teach at the Buenavista Special Education Integrated School - an elementary school for gifted children. The children enjoyed the lessons very much and we had a lot of fun together. I was asked to teach on the theme, "The purpose of life" and so I taught the kids how God created man to be like Him (godliness), to know Him (fellowship) and to do His will (co-labour). I then showed how the Fall caused man to become ungodly, separated from God and spiritually unproductive and how Jesus came to model God's purpose for man as well as restore God's purpose for man through faith in Him. The children were very attentive and they really understood the message.

After each lesson, I offered to pray for the sick and we saw God do some amazing things. In one class I prayed for a girl's hearing and God healed her immediately. She got so excited that she raced to her friends and asked them to whisper something in her ear and when she was able to hear properly she was overjoyed! After praying for her, 2 other girls came forward with a similar issue and were also healed on the spot! Hallelujah! I had to teach 4 classes today, each an hour long and after each class I ministered to the sick and we witnessed some wonderful results. In the other classes, the pupils I prayed for testified to feeling better and to feeling God's power in their areas of need. I prayed for kids with asthma, eye infections, appendix problems, sore throats, goitre and back issues. The most exciting thing was the environment in which God was healing these children. As I prayed for the children the others just chatted away and messed around and watched God do His work. I loved it! God is simply not religious and He simply does not need a man-made atmosphere to do His work! What's more is that the children belong to different denominations (primarily Catholic) and some of the kids are Moslems! Now they know why Jesus came and that Jesus saves and heals today! Hallelujah!

Between lessons we were invited for lunch at a local home and I was asked to share a devotional with the family. I shared on the account of Mary and Martha and how Jesus commended Mary for spending time at Jesus' feet and treasuring her Master's presence.

This evening I was invited to a house church and we had a sweet time of fellowship together. I shared from 1 Thessalonians and showed how the church stood out as an example of a people of faith, hope and love because of the way they received the Word of God and allowed the Holy Spirit to convict them of the truth. I was pleased to see Jireh-Mae and her dad again who reported that JM has been able to be back at school but still needs prayer for complete recovery. Please keep her in your prayers.

It really has been another amazing day with God! I praise Him for His love and for His faithfulness and I am thrilled with what He did today. Thank you Lord!

"Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing." John 14:11,12

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Reconciled to God!

Today I had 3 meetings. The first 2 were in Remedios T. Romualdez (conveniently referred to as RTR). The first church service was at a Four Square church where the youth seminar was held yesterday. I spoke on sonship and the difference between identity in Christ and intimacy with God from the parable of the prodigal son. It was a wonderful meeting and when I invited those who had never made a decision to follow Christ and become sons of God, over 15 people gave their lives to the Lord. Hallelujah! I am amazed at the response we are getting in our meetings!

After a delicious lunch we made our way to New Life in Christ church nearby. When we arrived I found a group awaiting our arrival of people aged between 1 month and 60 years old! The majority of the church were the youth pastor's youth group and other youngsters from other churches. Using a mobile phone I explained the Gospel and how we need Jesus to be connected to the life, the power and the love of the Father. We had a tremendous amount of fun and after the message almost everyone gave their life to Jesus! I then invited people to be prayed for to be healed and 4 or 5 people came for prayer and subsequently testified to experiencing the power of God! Glory to God!

After a couple mangos and a lovely time with the people and especially with the youth pastor Dennis who is a real character, we made our way back to Butuan where I was to lead a kids' meeting at the Free Methodist church. We waited a while for transport and eventually got on a rather crowded bus that was overflowing with adults, kids and a chicken! After 15 minutes travel, I suddenly heard a loud bang and the sound of air escaping as one of the tyres had burst. We immediately stopped and I praise God that nothing serious happened. Berwyn and I got off the bus as the rest waited for the bus driver to change the tyre. We then caught another bus and finally got to the church 20 minutes late.

I quickly entered the hall and found a group of about 100 kids worshipping God. Again, I spoke to them about how we need to be connected to Jesus in order to be connected to the Father's life, power and love. We had a lot of fun and they particularly enjoyed my action game I did with them inbetween some profound truth! Half way through the message, we had a power cut and I had to do the remainder of the meeting in the dark with the help of a few emergency lights! By now it seemed to me that the enemy was really trying hard to stop God's work. The darkness, however, didn't and couldn't stop us! I then invited anyone who wanted to decide to follow Jesus to pray with us and to my astonishment over two thirds of the chidren raised their hand to follow Jesus. I then invited those who had surrendered their lives to the Lord to come forward for prayer to be filled with the presence, the power and the love of God. The children all made their way to the front in he dark and one by one we prayed for each one of these precious souls. It was the most amazing atmosphere and the presence of God was wonderful. I was later told by the youth leader, Julius, that they do not usually get a response from the kids like we witnessed today. I praise God for His awesome work in rescuing these kids from the kingdom of darkness and placing them in the kingdom of the Son he loves! Hallelujah!

After the meeting I was shattered but we still went out for grilled chicken with a small group as it was pastor Julius' birthday today! At the restaurant I went to the men's loo and managed to lock myself in, unable to get out again as the door handle inside was broken! All I could do was bang on the door and wait until someone eventually rescued me. Praise God!

Tomorrow should be a day of rest but you never know what "suddenlies" the Holy Spirit has planned! It's been an incredible day. Many lives have been saved and healed. I am simply in awe of what God is doing here. His Kingdom is here and I just sense His passion for His creation and His longing for all to be reconciled to His presence, power and love.

"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the message of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting man's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God." 2 Cor. 5:18-20

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The Kingdom of God is here!

Today I led a youth seminar at RTR, a town inbetween Butuan and Cabadbaran about 45 minutes drive from Butuan. Over 60 youngsters attended and I spoke on the reality of the Kingdom of God; how Jesus came to preach about the Kingdom and demonstrated it's presence by revealing the Father's wisdom, nature and power. I then showed how Jesus modelled a life lived from the Kingdom and how He empowers the believer to live the same Kingdom life! Before our lunch break, I invited anyone who wasn't certain of their salvation and of a relationship with God to make a decision to surrender their lives to Christ and receive His life in return. Over 15 young people gave their lives to Jesus today! Hallelujah!

After our lunch break (crumbed chicken, crumbed fish, chicken soup, chinese noodles, rice, mango, bananas and blue pepsi), I taught on how God calls us to be like Him in the power of the Spirit and how we are to continue to do the works of Jesus to reveal the Kingdom. I testified to the healings I had witnessed in recent days and the young people's faith grew by the minute. I then invited everyone to be prayed for and almost all the youngsters came forward. The presence of God was awesome. The Holy Spirit ministered to these precious young people in many different ways and I just sensed how God the Father was filling His children with His love and affirmation. It was very precious and many were truly blessed by God's touch. On our way to the bus, we passed a little rope manufacturing company and when we got back to Butuan, I treated some of the youth that were with us to donuts at Dunkin Donuts. It cost me less than 10 Euro to pay for over 15 donuts and 15 soft drinks! We had a lot of fun together as I showed them pictures of my beautiful family. I am missing them!

It has been a joy to speak about the Kingdom and witness God's Kingdom invade the lives of those who believe. I believe many were wonderfully filled with the Spirit today and many received God's healing touch. God is so faithful to confirm His Word and I am so excited about what He is doing in me and through me as I simply cling to Him and live to glorify His Name! Tomorrow I will preach in the morning and in the afternoon at two different churches.

"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power." 1 Cor. 4:20

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