So probably for a lot of you, when I say the Holy Spirit, you either say, woah that's scary or wow he's crazy. And I agree with both of those. The Holy Spirit is crazy and scary, and people who are led by him are also rather odd. This is because He is Gods messenger, and what we consider order and organised is not always what God considers order. In fact often when God really works we will think it is disordered and odd, which is why the Holy Spirit is so often restrained, He upsets the status quo and makes the wisdom of men appear foolish. This is who we learnt about this week, that wascally character of the Holy Spirit.
We were baptised and filled with the Holy Spirit, which sounds very Christianese and maybe strange to some, but it was so amazing. For me, it was not so new thanks to my church background, but for many of my classmates it was a very eye-opening experience. It was cool to research what the Holy Spirit means and study how he worked in the Bible, both Old and New testament. It gave me a whole new outlook on what it means today and a new confidence in His relevance and power.
We also got prayed over and had spiritual gifts given to us, which makes me excited for the future. For anyone who reads this (and I don't know how many of you that is) who don't understand any of this, or disagree with me, I would love to have a chat about this with you.
In other news, God is amazing and he continues to amaze me with what he's doing. I've had a lot of things spoken over me, a lot of truth. It's challenging and inspiring at the same time. The main theme that appears to be coming out through it all is that I need to accept and step into what God has for me. I've been running and scared for so long, putting others before me and making excuses like “I'm too young.” This is all baloney. There's no such thing as too young, in fact, God loves to use young people for his purposes. I'm still working out what it is exactly God wants me to do, but I know its big, and its gonna be awesome. Watch out world, literally, January DTS 2010 is coming for you.
'Till next time, much love to you all!!!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
The Power of the Cross
So one thing I forgot to mention in my last blog, which is weird because its a pretty major thing. During camping we found out our outreach locations. And I am going to.....drumroll.....
India!!
I am really excited for it because God really told me it is going to be an eye opening experience and challenging for me, which is going to be good for me I think. We're not sure on many (any?) of the details, except that we are at least going to Chennai, maybe other places. Researching it, by talking to others and the website, it looks like the YWAM base we will be staying on is involved in a variety of things such as leper colony ministry and an orphanage.
This week we had lectures on evangelism. What a week. Our guest lecturer was a man named David Pierce who started an organisation Steiger International. He has some amazing stories about how the gospel has so much power, even amongst satanists and anarchists in sleazy clubs. He really inspired us of the power of the cross and how amazing it is and how we need to convey it much more. One thing that got to me was that he said the saying “Preach the gospel to others and if necessary use words” is false. Only up to a point can our right living and love show to others God, they will eventually need to know why we are doing this and what they are saved from. So we had a whole day on thursday to evangelise, which was challenging to say the least. Its been a good week for me grow in my courage and humility, which I am beginning to realise are so closely linked.
I thank everyone for your prayers, thoughts or well-wishes.
Praying for you all, till next time!!
India!!
I am really excited for it because God really told me it is going to be an eye opening experience and challenging for me, which is going to be good for me I think. We're not sure on many (any?) of the details, except that we are at least going to Chennai, maybe other places. Researching it, by talking to others and the website, it looks like the YWAM base we will be staying on is involved in a variety of things such as leper colony ministry and an orphanage.
This week we had lectures on evangelism. What a week. Our guest lecturer was a man named David Pierce who started an organisation Steiger International. He has some amazing stories about how the gospel has so much power, even amongst satanists and anarchists in sleazy clubs. He really inspired us of the power of the cross and how amazing it is and how we need to convey it much more. One thing that got to me was that he said the saying “Preach the gospel to others and if necessary use words” is false. Only up to a point can our right living and love show to others God, they will eventually need to know why we are doing this and what they are saved from. So we had a whole day on thursday to evangelise, which was challenging to say the least. Its been a good week for me grow in my courage and humility, which I am beginning to realise are so closely linked.
I thank everyone for your prayers, thoughts or well-wishes.
Praying for you all, till next time!!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Who do you say I Am?
Camping for two weeks. What can I say. It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times, but mostly just the best.
We (and by we I mean just the boys) drove up on Monday the 1st to Freshwater, Myall lakes. We carted in 2 trailer loads of junk (actually they were vital supplies) in the middle of the day and were extremely glad for the cool freshwater lake that awaited us at the campsite, which we proceeded to set up. Then at night we ate meat and threw hot coals at each other. Best boys night ever.Then Tuesday the girls arrived and we were mostly glad for their company.
From there we kicked into our first week of lectures, which were on the character of God with the fabulous Rob Russell. He spoke on how so many times we have a distorted view of God and focusing on only one aspect of his character can cause such a distortion in the way we act. Unfortunately he was forced to leave so our friendly neighbourhood school leader Sanerive stepped in, as well as our friend Sam Street, to finish the lectures. We learnt about how the Greek world view has become the dominant worldview, and its focus on “truth is what we make it” means so many people have more misconceptions about God.
'Twas a good week, and within all that we lazed about in the lake, went tubing and water skiing/wake boarding on the boat and spent plenty of time enjoying the scenery and animals. Such animals included goannas that visited us during lectures and we tried (sometimes succeeding) to catch, as well as dingos that haunted the night and our rubbish bins.
The second week was father heart of God week, and it was easily the best week we've had so far. We had our base leader David Stephenson, known as Stevo, speak. He really was led by the Holy Spirit and although he didn't get through his main points, he spoke so much Truth into our lives and challenged us in amazing ways. I personally had some really amazing revelations of my identity in God and what I am called to. It's ridiculously exciting. I also got to experience God and hear his voice in this amazing natural environment. Freebiiird. (Its an in joke).
So, we got back last Friday the 12th and were extremely glad for showers and a mattress on the bed. On Saturday we had Youth Street which I think I've mentioned before. Its pretty cool. Sunday we had a one day weekend because we kicked into lectures early this week. We had an amazing day today of lectures but I think that is a story for another time.
Till next time, Love you lovers.
We (and by we I mean just the boys) drove up on Monday the 1st to Freshwater, Myall lakes. We carted in 2 trailer loads of junk (actually they were vital supplies) in the middle of the day and were extremely glad for the cool freshwater lake that awaited us at the campsite, which we proceeded to set up. Then at night we ate meat and threw hot coals at each other. Best boys night ever.Then Tuesday the girls arrived and we were mostly glad for their company.
From there we kicked into our first week of lectures, which were on the character of God with the fabulous Rob Russell. He spoke on how so many times we have a distorted view of God and focusing on only one aspect of his character can cause such a distortion in the way we act. Unfortunately he was forced to leave so our friendly neighbourhood school leader Sanerive stepped in, as well as our friend Sam Street, to finish the lectures. We learnt about how the Greek world view has become the dominant worldview, and its focus on “truth is what we make it” means so many people have more misconceptions about God.
'Twas a good week, and within all that we lazed about in the lake, went tubing and water skiing/wake boarding on the boat and spent plenty of time enjoying the scenery and animals. Such animals included goannas that visited us during lectures and we tried (sometimes succeeding) to catch, as well as dingos that haunted the night and our rubbish bins.
The second week was father heart of God week, and it was easily the best week we've had so far. We had our base leader David Stephenson, known as Stevo, speak. He really was led by the Holy Spirit and although he didn't get through his main points, he spoke so much Truth into our lives and challenged us in amazing ways. I personally had some really amazing revelations of my identity in God and what I am called to. It's ridiculously exciting. I also got to experience God and hear his voice in this amazing natural environment. Freebiiird. (Its an in joke).
So, we got back last Friday the 12th and were extremely glad for showers and a mattress on the bed. On Saturday we had Youth Street which I think I've mentioned before. Its pretty cool. Sunday we had a one day weekend because we kicked into lectures early this week. We had an amazing day today of lectures but I think that is a story for another time.
Till next time, Love you lovers.
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