Gereja Tuhan ataupun umat Tuhan harus menyuarakan suara profetik bukan sekedar dalam lingkungan orang percaya tetapi juga berbicara pada bangsa-bangsa yang belum mengenal Dia. Bukan hanya melalui kata-kata tetapi perbuatan kita yang menjadi berkat disertai belas kasihan
Jumat, 31 Mei 2013
EYEWITNESS To REVIVAL
NOTE: The following words are taken from Frank Bartleman's
excellent book on the 'Azusa Street' Revival-
EYEWITNESS To REVIVAL
-Frank Bartleman
The Lord will visit those willing to yield to Him.
We must keep humble and little in our own eyes. Let us get built
up by a sense of our own importance and we are gone.
God has always sought humble people. He can use no other.
There is much need always of heart preparation, in humility and
separation, before God can consistently come. The depth of any
revival will be determined exactly by the spirit of repentance that
obtains. In fact this is the key to every true revival born of God.
One evening, July 3, I felt strongly impressed to go the little
Peniel Hall in Pasadena to pray. There I found Brother Boehmer
ahead of me. He had also being led of God to the hall. We prayed
for a spirit of revival for Pasadena until the burden became well
nigh unbearable... The Spirit was interceding through us. Finally
the burden left us. After a little time of quiet waiting a great calm
settled down upon us. Then suddenly, without premonition, the
Lord Jesus himself revealed himself to us. He seemed to stand
directly between us, so close we could have reached out our
hand and touched Him. But we did not dare to move. I could
not even look. In fact I seemed all spirit. His presence seemed
more real, if possible, than if I could have seen and touched Him
naturally. I forgot I had eyes or ears. My spirit recognized Him.
A heaven of divine love filled and thrilled my soul. Burning fire
went through me. In fact my whole being seemed to flow down
before Him, like wax before the fire. I lost all consciousness of
time or space, being conscious only of His wonderful presence.
I worshipped at His feet. It seemed a veritable "mount of
transfiguration."
For some time He remained with us. Then slowly He withdrew
His presence. We would have been there yet had He not withdrawn.
I could not doubt His reality after that experience. Brother Boehmer
experienced largely the same thing. We had lost all consciousness
of each other´s presence while He remained with us. We were
almost afraid to speak or breathe when we came back to our
surroundings.
He had come to strengthen and assure us for His service. We knew
now we were workers with Him, fellowshippers of His sufferings,
in the ministry of "soul travail." Real soul travail is just as definite
in the spirit, as natural human birth-pangs. The simile is almost
perfect in its sameness. No soul is ever born without this. All true
revivals of salvation come this way.
I received from God early in 1905 the following keynote to revival:
"The depth of revival will be determined exactly by the depth of
the spirit of repentance."
"A revival almost always begins among the laity [ordinary common
people not trained in theology or holding any rank in the church].
The ecclesiastical leaders seldom welcome reformation. History
repeats itself. The present leaders are too comfortably situated
as a rule to desire innovation that might require sacrifice on their
part. And God´s fire only falls on sacrifice. An empty altar receives
no fire. Cold intellectualism, formal ecclesiasticism, and priestly
domination are altogether outside the genius of the Gospel.
Thank God there are exceptions among the leaders. But we
are saved to serve. The true minister is a servant."
A body must be prepared, in repentance and humility, for every
outpouring of the Spirit.
"The present Pentecostal manifestation did not break out in a
moment, like a huge prairie fire, and set the world on fire. In fact
no work of God ever appears that way. There is a necessary time
for preparation. The finished article is not realized at the beginning.
Men may wonder where it came from, not being conscious of the
preparation, but there is always such. Every movement of the
Spirit of God must also run the gauntlet of the devil´s forces. The
Dragon stands before the bearing mother, ready to swallow up
her child (Rev. 12:4). And so with the present Pentecostal work
in its beginning. The enemy did much counterfeiting. God kept
the young child well hid for a season from the Herods, until it
could gain strength and discernment to resist them. The flame
was guarded jealously by the hand of the Lord, from the winds
of criticism, jealousy, unbelief, etc. It went through about the
same experiences that all revivals have. Its foes were both
inside and out. Both Luther and Wesley experienced the same
difficulties in their time.
-From 'Azusa Street' by Frank Bartleman. [A wonderful book!!]
Rabu, 29 Mei 2013
WE'VE LOST CHRISTIANITY
WE'VE LOST CHRISTIANITY
by Andrew Strom
Despite the thousands in our megachurches today, soaking up the
warm entertainment offered to them every week, I want to put it to
you that we have lost Christianity. Despite the Christian books
now found in every Walmart, and the "crossover" of Christian artists
into the mainstream, and our Christian mega-stores and CD´s and
DVD´s and Study-Bibles, I want to put it to you that we have lost
Christianity.
Despite our lavish Cathedrals in the suburbs (`Charismatic or not)
with their pastel hues and comfortable pews, their projector screens
and $30,000 sound systems, I want to put it to you that we have
utterly lost Christianity.
We left it behind somewhere when we shifted our churches from
the inner city into the "comfortable" suburbs. We left it behind when
we stopped welcoming the bums off the street into our meetings
and started welcoming only the "respectable" people. We left it
behind when we stopped preaching "take up your cross" and
turned the gospel into a success formula - `Seven Steps to your
Best Life Now.´
Somewhere in our comfortable suburban streetscape with its
manicured lawns we lost the real thing. Somehow in our concern
for "property values" and a better `dental plan´ we left it behind.
But that is not the worst part of it. The worst part is that we don´t
know how to get it back again. Or perhaps we don´t really WANT
to get it back again. The cost simply doesn´t bear thinking about,
does it? And so, as we drive around in our nice shiny cars with
our groovy plastic toys, and attend "church" as we know it twice
a week for 2 hours;- As we live a life that is about as unlike
Jesus as you can get, a life of comfort and coddling undreamt
of by billions around the world;- a lifestyle in the top 10% of the
earth today (-in debt up to our eyeballs all the while) - the fact
is that we don´t really CARE that we have lost original Christianity,
do we? We are too busy, man. Don´t bother us with that kind of talk.
It will all be OK, the preacher tells us. We will all make it to heaven
in the end. We are all "decent" people here. We have "prayed the
little prayer". We have `given our heart to the Lord´.
But what is this? What is that thundering voice I hear? "DEPART
FROM ME." `But LORD... But LORD....´
"I said - `DEPART FROM ME´. Don´t call me Lord. You never truly
lived like I was your Lord and you know it. For I was hungry and
you gave me no food; I was thirsty and you gave me no drink; I
was a stranger and you did not take me in; naked, and you did
not clothe me; sick and in prison, and you did not visit me...."
What is the essence of true Christianity that we have lost, my
friends? It is simply described by James as follows- "Pure religion
and undefiled is this: To visit the fatherless and widows in their
affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." (Ja 1:27).
-PLEASE COMMENT on this topic at the following website-
http://www.revivalschool.com/
Senin, 27 Mei 2013
THERE Are NO INDIAN RESERVATIONS In HEAVEN
COMMENT from HANS ERDMAN, MISSIONARY: "We have largely
ignored this languishing mission field in our own backyard". I have
been saying this to whomever would listen, for the past 5 years.
We became involved with Native American/First Nations missions
after the doors closed to us in NW Russia, and have never regretted
it. The fields are ripe for the harvest, but the workers are few. As
Lee pointed out, we spend millions elsewhere, while domestic
missions fall below the radar..."
------------------------------------
THERE Are NO INDIAN RESERVATIONS In HEAVEN
by J. Lee Grady
God´s heart is broken over the spiritual condition of the Native
American community. Do you care?
I spent part of this week preaching at my friend Quentin Beard´s
church in Sioux Falls, S.D. On Sunday-which happened to be
Pentecost-I reminded the congregation that if we really want the
fullness of the Holy Spirit, we must have more than just emotionally
charged worship, speaking in tongues or miracles of healing. Those
things are wonderful, but if we want full-blown Pentecost we must
also tear down racial and ethnic barriers.
Later that morning, a tall Native American brother named Joe
Marrowbone came to the altar for prayer. He is from the Lakota
Sioux tribe, and he wanted the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Within
a few moments, he was praying in tongues with his hands raised
in the air. He told me later that He feels God will send him to
share the gospel on some of the Indian reservations near Sioux Falls.
Joe was especially blessed when I addressed the issue of racism
among whites and Native people in his home state. I told the
church that when we get to heaven, there will not be a white
section, a Hispanic section, a black section or a Native section.
"We are all one big family. There are no Indian reservations in
heaven," I said.
Seeing Joe filled with the Spirit was a highlight of my trip. But
when I left Sioux Falls, I was burdened about the condition of
the Native people in our nation. We have so much unfinished
business when it comes to healing the breach that exists
between us and our American Indian brothers. Consider these
facts:
oNative Americans have the highest poverty and unemployment
rates in the United States. The poverty rate is 25 percent. Native
people living in Indian country have incomes that are less than
half of the general U.S. population.
oOnly 36 percent of males in high-poverty Native American
communities have full-time, year-round employment.
oNearly 10 percent of all Native families are homeless. The rate
of Native homes without electricity is 10 times the national average,
and 20 percent of Native households lack running water. The infant
mortality rate among Native people is about 300 percent higher
than the national average.
oThe poorest county in the United States is the Pine Ridge
Reservation in South Dakota, where the unemployment rate is at
a mind-boggling 80 percent. Life expectancy on this reservation
is the lowest in the Western Hemisphere, except for Haiti.
oRates of violent victimization for both males and females are
higher among American Indians than for any other race.
oFrom 1999 to 2004, American Indian males in the 15- to 24-year-
old age group had the highest suicide rate compared to males of
any other racial group.
oNative American men have been found to be dying at the fastest
rate of all people in the United States.
What do those figures say to you? I believe it is an absolute
travesty that those of us in the Christian community have not
fully acknowledged our forefathers´ role in perpetrating genocide
on our Native brothers. And it is pathetic that we have largely
ignored this languishing mission field in our own backyard while
we spend millions on our tech-savvy megachurches in white
suburbs. God forgive us.
When the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost, the
apostle Peter declared from the book of Joel that one sign of the
Holy Spirit´s outpouring would be the empowerment of the poorest
of the poor. He said, "Even on My bondslaves, both men and
women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit, and they shall
prophesy" (Acts 2:18, NASB).
Surely Native Americans were on God´s heart when those words
were recorded. Yet many of us completely missed the point of
Pentecost. We made it about us. We chased after the anointing,
the chills, the hype and the charismatic circus-forgetting that
the reason we are anointed by the Spirit is to minister to those
who need Christ´s healing.
I am praying that the Spirit-filled community will renounce its self-
absorbed immaturity and begin to fulfill our true Pentecostal
mission. Pray for a spiritual awakening among Native people,
both on and off the reservation. Explore ways that you can build
bridges of reconciliation. And ask God how you and your church
should respond to the needs of Native people.
-PLEASE COMMENT on this topic at the following website-
http://www.revivalschool.com/
Rabu, 08 Mei 2013
EAGLES NEST MINISTRIES
EAGLES NEST
MINISTRIES
Jawaban bagi Indonesia
Indonesia dikenal sebagai sebuah
negara kepulauan yang memiliki keragaman suku, budaya dan bahasa daerah.
Mayoritas penduduk Indonesia merupakan orang non Kristen dan merupakan negara
Muslim terbesar di dunia. Masih ada sekitar 129 suku dari 23 rumpun suku di
Indonesia yang sama sekali belum pernah mendengar berita Injil. Gereja Tuhan di
Indonesia mungkin telah berupaya memberitakan Injil dalam masyarakatnya namun
hasilnya belum optimal. Begitu banyak orang yang menolak berita sukacita
tersebut karena menganggap berita tersebut sebagai “kepercayaan asing”. Sebab
dibagikan dalam kemasan yang kebarat-baratan, yang mungkin tidak cocok dengan
budaya setempat dari masyarakat yang hendak dijangkau. Ada banyak suku yang
siap dan terbuka seandainya kita memberitakan berita keselamatan itu dengan
menyajikannya sesuai kebiasaan, adat istiadat serta budaya mereka.
Eagles Nest Ministries berdiri 1
Juli 2007 di kota Bandung, salah satunya untuk menjawab tantangan ini.
Pelayanan ini dirintis oleh suami istri Dave Broos dan Novie Durant yang
merindukan umat Tuhan meresponi Amanat Agung Tuhan (Mat 28:19-20, Karena itu
pergilah, jadikanlah semua bangsa muridKu dan baptislah mereka dalam nama Bapa
dan Anak dan Roh Kudus, dan ajarlah mereka melakukan segala sesuatu yang telah
Kuperintahkan kepadamu. Dan ketahuilah, Aku menyertai kamu senantiasa sampai
kepada akhir zaman) untuk menjadi murid dan menjadikan segala bangsa murid
Tuhan hingga kerajaan Tuhan diperluas, suatu umat yang bukan “sekedar beragama
Kristen” tetapi mengetahui panggilan Tuhan atas hidupnya dan membawa dampak
bagi komunitasnya. Dave Broos merupakan hamba Tuhan yang ditahbiskan oleh
United Christian Faith Ministries dari Amerika Serikat, ditunjuk sebagai
regional director dari Shadow of the Cross di Indonesia (sebuah pelayanan bagi
sub kultur di perkotaan), pendoa syafaat Global Prayer Network – Johan Maasbach
Wereld Zending dan utusan Injil dari Gereja Oikos Indonesia jemaat Surabaya.
Visi Eagles Nest Ministries
adalah “MEMBERITAKAN KABAR BAIK, MEMURIDKAN & MENGUTUS SETIAP ANAK TUHAN UNTUK
“MENJADI” GEREJA DIMANA PUN MEREKA BERADA”. Kerinduan kami adalah
bekerja bersama dan memperlengkapi semua denominasi gereja, persekutuan,
pelayanan Kristen lainnya dalam menyelesaikan amanat agung. Pelayanan ini
berjejaring dengan pergerakan pemuridan dan penanaman gereja dunia Zoe
Ministries, LK10 dan Outreach Fellowship International.
Missi kami adalah:
- MEMPERKENALKAN PENGHARAPAN & KASIH BAPA SURGAWI PADA DUNIA TERHILANG
- MEMULIHKAN & MEMURIDKAN MEREKA YANG BERKOMITMEN UNTUK BERTUMBUH DALAM KRISTUS
- MELATIH DAN MENGUTUS MURID KRISTUS SEBAGAI AGEN PERUBAHAN KE SELURUH DUNIA
- MELIHAT TERANG TUHAN BERSINAR DIMANA-MANA MENERANGI DUNIA SAMPAI TUHAN DATANG KEMBALI
Kami menyadari bahwa kami tidak
bisa bekerja sendiri tetapi diperlukan kebersamaan dan kesadaran bersama akan
kehendak Tuhan. Diperlukan sebuah kesehatian dan kesatuan (meski kita berbeda
organisasi tapi satu dalam Tuhan Yesus) agar kita dapat berfungsi sebagai tubuh
Kristus yang menjadi berkat dan dampak bagi mereka yang belum mengenal Tuhan.
Bagaimana Anda dapat menjadi
rekan kami?
Keberhasilan pelayanan ini
berarti juga keberhasilan umat Tuhan di Indonesia. Roma 10:13-15,”Sebab
barangsiapa yang berseru kepada nama Tuhan, akan diselamatkan. Tetapi bagaimana
mereka dapat berseru kepadaNya, jika mereka tidak percaya kepada Dia? Bagaimana
mereka dapat percaya kepada Dia, jika mereka tidak mendengar tentang Dia?
Bagaimana mereka mendengar tentang Dia jika tidak ada yang memberitakanNya? Dan
bagaimana mereka dapat memberitakanNya, jika mereka tidak diutus? Seperti ada
tertulis:”Betapa indahnya kedatangan mereka yang membawa kabar baik!” Kami
mengajak Anda untuk dapat terlibat bersama dalam menjangkau jiwa terhilang
melalui 3D
DIRI
Bagi mereka yang mau terlibat
dalam mewartakan Injil, pemuridan, penanaman dan pengembangan gereja. Kami
memberi diri untuk memperlengkapi baik seorang pribadi maupun gereja atau
persekutuan yang hendak bermultiplikasi atau menanggapi amanat agung. Bukan
jumlah orang tetapi kesediaan menanggapi panggilan Tuhan adalah tujuan kami.
Kami memiliki bahan-bahan pemuridan yang dapat digunakan baik untuk pribadi,
persekutuan maupun gereja yang hendak bertumbuh.
DOA
Anda dapat berdoa syafaat
keluarga kami dalam memenuhi panggilan Tuhan dalam kehidupan kami. Kami juga
menyediakan blog yang berisi berita dan pokok doa bagi suku-suku terabaikan
baik di Indonesia maupun mancanegara.
DANA
Bagi mereka yang mau mendukung
kami agar kami bisa pergi memperlengkapi umat Tuhan maupun gereja Tuhan di
daerah terpencil atau tak mampu hingga kami dapat memperlengkapi dan mengutus
lebih banyak lagi anak Tuhan dalam pemuridan dan perintisan gereja. Bagi yang
terbeban dapat menghubungi kami lebih lanjut.
Saya percaya Anda dapat
menanggapi salah satu atau bahkan ketiga hal tersebut sebagai anggota tubuh
Kristus yang telah mengalami kasih karunia dan anugerah keselamatan. Anda dapat
merenungkan dan mendoakan ke tiga hal tersebut demi menjangkau mereka yang
berseru,”Menyeberanglah kemari dan tolonglah kami.” (Kis 16:9). Dapatkah Anda
mendengar seruan mereka yang terhilang? Tuhan menunggu partisipasi dan
pengabdian Anda kepadaNya.
Salam dan doa,
Dave Broos
Kontak kami dapat melalui inbox
Facebook atau direct message Twitter, email: davebroos@yahoo.co.uk , telpon
022-92050322 atau SMS 087832744286.
Label:
kepedulian,
news,
newsletter,
Partnership,
pemuridan,
pokok doa
Langganan:
Postingan (Atom)