Going and Sending

This week was yet another week of challenges for me. You'd almost think I was sick of it by now, but I'm not. Being challenged is good, being uncomfortable is good. It may not seem that way at the time, but if you're not being challenged then you're not growing and the opposite of growing is stagnation. So challenge yourself!

But that's not the point..or maybe it is...??!
This week we learnt about Missions with a good man called Bruce Skinner from the Wollongong base. He opened our eyes to the reality of missions, the countries and people that require our aid, the things that need to be done and the fact that it is everyone's personal responsibility to act.
He spoke about the great commission, the last thing Jesus spoke to us all that we need to go and make disciples of all the world. The first part of that is the word “Go.” To do this task we need to Go, get into the places of the world and not just wait for things to happen. It is active and purposeful.
Not all of us have been called to go however, but if we are not going to the world, then we certainly should be sending. This means we should be supporting those who are in missions, financially, physically and prayerfully. There are so many churches around the world who don't believe world missions is a need for them. Yes, the local community is important to reach, but chances are they have heard the Word before. There are at least 4000 completely unreached people groups with different languages. Who are we to deny the good news to them?
That last question is a hard one, because if we believe its true, then we must realise that we need to do something. And doing something is scary. God really challenged me on this during the week. If God called you to go to Saudi Arabia, a country where Christians are killed for their faith, do you trust him enough to go? That's a lot of trust and faith. It's lucky my God is a powerful God. I seriously don't know whether I could do it, but I think God is working on me with this issue of trust, because God wants the impossible to be done, and he is willing to use me. What an honour, what a fright, what an opportunity.
Lovingly yours!!

Holy Ghost Batman!!

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!!!

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!!

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.

Relationships and Camping.

This week we have been learning about relationships, just in general as well as the romantic kind. It has been a really interesting week to think about how relationships really affect every aspect of your life, even going so far as to affect the way your life turns out. People are all around us, and we can't do much in life without having to deal with people. Imagine if every one of these people we interact with was able to see and experience a different kind of relationship and see Christ through us. Every person deserves this kind of relationship, even (or especially) those who are the hardest to act nice to. Seeing them as Christ sees them is such a major turning point in loving people. People should be honoured, always.
Tomorrow we are leaving to camping for 2 weeks. No power, no showers and our food needs to be hung from trees to avoid dingos and goannas getting into it. Its gonna be sooo good. Whilst away we will be learning about the Character of God and the Father Heart of God. Two subjects that will be really good to learn while amongst nature.
Thats all for now, deal with it.
Love you all no matter what.

Canberra

This past week we were in Canberra, our great nations capital for a 50th year celebration of YWAM called Jubilee. The founders were there and they spoke about YWAM's history and their vision for its future. It was really cool to hear the stories of how God provided for them and for others in the organisation, and to begin to realise that I am a part of this, and these stories now belong to me and my past.
We also had lectures on the Fear of the Lord, which was interesting to say the least. It was such a good topic to learn on whilst also hearing the founders speak on how they followed God wholeheartedly. Being faithful in the small things is the main thing I got out of it. If you are trustworthy and honest in the small details of your life, for one it makes it much easier for God to give you greater things and for you to succeed in those things, and secondly that your conscience is kept cleaner and you are able to avoid the slippery slope, where the line of what is okay slowly slips further and further away from what is right.
All in all it was an interesting week, and apart from sleeping in tents on bumpy ground that ruined my back it was a good week.
We headed back home to Newcastle last Friday afternoon, but unfortunately had some troubles with our van. Luckily for us though, we have the power of prayer and got the van running again. It was a really good exercise in faith and perseverance for us all, and I think a good cherry on the top of the weeks tasty dessert.
On the Saturday we had youth street, which is a really cool program run by YWAM here aimed at high school kids. It runs for most of the day Saturday, and starts with us splitting into teams such as a music team, skate team or surf team, and we just hang out with the kids for a few hours. Then we all come together again and have Youth Street Live, which is some loud music and a speaker. It then finishes with a big hang out with Ping-pong, Xbox and dance parties. Yeah, that's right, dance parties. Its a really cool opportunity to bond with the kids and be a good Christian influence on them in a non-threatening environment.
And for the past two days we had our weekend which involves sleeping in and trying to find things to entertain ourselves, which can be hard when you have little money and there's nothing nearby.
And I think that's all for now folks. If I find time this week I'll update again, or else Ill try and update this thing next week.
Love you all.

Authority

What a word. Grasping the definition of that in your life is pretty crazy. After only a day and a half, theres been so much to learn, and its that word that sticks. Yesterday we had orientation, which was just like a major overload of information. And then today we had base day, which was pretty much worship and a message, and then some praying and intercession. The house here is crazy. Imagine a house filled with like 100 young people, who are all slightly eccentric but awesome. Its been ridiculous trying to learn names, but I'll get there. (eventually)

We have the week of classes here, and then on sunday we leave for Canberra, where we have a massive 50th birthday celebration of YWAM (Jubilee), and like 600 people from all over the East coast YWAM bases will be attending. The founders of the whole organisation are also coming and are going to speak, which is a massive privilege.

So back to that word. Authority. It's I think something I struggle with in my walk, and certainly something I will be working on throughout my time here. But its something I pray over myself, as well as any of you reading this. I also pray that our time at Jubilee will be a time of growth and of accepting authority over our lives.

Peace out.