Watch Ray Comfort of Living Waters minister the Gospel to this young man. He had no concept of what God had done to secure His salvation and thereby eternal life. Watch the change as the truth slowly dawns on Him. This is evidence of how the Holy Spirit works in our lives to transform us. Only God could bring about the change we see in this young man.
Category Archives: God at work
GETTING IN STEP WITH GOD
We observe in Acts 10 and 11, God, rather than the apostles, took the initiative in most situations. The apostle’s involvement invariably requires their availability in prayer. God had heard Cornelius’s prayer and He also, with some considerable difficulty, sought to guide Peter as he prayed. Both Cornelius and Peter experienced the presence of God in a vision (Acts 10:2-3 and 9). Peter was rather slow to understand what was going on, trying hard to keep up with the God who had already gone before him. He eventually realised that he should visit Cornelius, but was astonished to find that God had already been working well beyond the bounds of the Church. To Peter’s amazement, he got halfway through his talk when the Spirit took over. The account reads as if the Spirit is rather impatient, perhaps even bored by Peter’s sermon, and doesn’t wait for him to finish (Acts 10:44)!
Even on the day of Pentecost, Peter was simply keeping up with God’s action and he did not initiate anything himself. He just happened to be present and took the opportunity to explain the events unfolding before his eyes, starting with a disclaimer to drunkenness (Acts 2:15).
God often makes his presence known to people, despite our slowness to ‘cotton on’ to whatever He is doing. We play our part, but very much as junior partners who are trying to keep up.
Our partnering with God is good for our mental health. It saves us from feeling we have the overwhelming responsibility of carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders. It releases us to walk with the Lord, in the confidence that He has both gone before us and that we carry His presence with us. Our part is to be attentive and to look for signs of the Holy Spirit’s activity as we fulfil our call to have an impact on people and communities. Doing this by seeking to discern the presence and activity of the Spirit is a different approach to what most of us have been taught which seemed to put the onus on us.
On occasions, walking with God means we have to ‘walk on the water’. Like the disciples, as we set out from the security of the shore, we do not realise all that the journey will entail. The story of Peter walking on water revealed how rash he was, but it also shows us the level of his faith in Jesus compared to his companions who stayed in the boat ‘Peters’ are people who are more desperate to join Jesus than those of us who always weigh up the risk. We need to avoid recklessness, but when it’s in response to having heard the prompting of the Holy Spirit, faithfully stepping into a vulnerable situation will get us closer to Him.
Much of this post is extracted from Richard Brown’s book Cultivating God’s Presence
GOD PRESERVES HIS SERVANTS
After 52 years of ministry, skydiving 98-year-old preacher, Roy Jernigan wants people to see Jesus in his life. I can relate to Roy’s testimony. I am 86 and I know God still has more for me to do specifically to alert the church to God’s soon-coming Millennial Kingdom on this earth. Checkout http://www.millennialkingdom.net
Asked to comment on the state of the American Church today:
Jernigan quickly explained that the main driver of his faith is the Bible without the trappings of denominational restrictions.
Jernigan has certainly got this right. The denominational church is not the church Jesus established as outlined in the Book of Acts. Jesus calls us all to be disciples who make more disciples. We all like the denominational church model as it removes this essential facet of the church. It is the pastor’s responsibility to grow the church so we can get on with our lives doing what we want to do.
“I’m not a denominational man. I don’t criticize the denominations but think about this: we have all kinds of denominations — Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, you name it, and every one of them has a different doctrine,” he explained. “They can’t all be right. And so, consequently, I don’t claim a denomination. I claim to be a Christian. And as a Christian, I follow the New Testament teachings on the Apostle Paul.”
And Jernigan’s nondenominational approach to ministry aligns with the direction of the American Church today. Data from the 2020 U.S. Religion Census show that in the last 10 years, the number of American Christian adherents in nondenominational churches nearly doubled in number and surpassed America’s largest Protestant denomination, Southern Baptist, by several million adherents.
Other recent studies also show that while America remains a highly religious nation, with seven in 10 claiming affiliation with some kind of organized religion, for the first time in nearly 80 years, fewer than half now say they have formal membership in a specific house of worship. Church attendance has also continued to decline in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
While he admits that being a Christian today is much harder than it was 50 years ago when fewer distractions were competing for people’s attention, Jernigan believes that the model of many church ministries today is partly to blame for people deserting the pews.
“I’ll be honest with you, one of the biggest problems that pastors have today is trying to build a church on their own,” Jernigan told CP.
“Today, preachers have gotten themselves into such a rut by building big buildings with stained glass windows and everything. And the people have deserted them because they get tired of being bled to death [financially]. And hear the preacher say, ‘you got to give, you got to give, you got to give.’ My conviction is you don’t have to hound Christians to give. If they are saved, they love the Lord, they will give,” he said.
Jernigan also criticized preachers who treat their ministry as a business. “I think it’s the wrong approach. Commercial? You don’t commercialize God. I believe this is a gross mistake, that people, you see so much of this today, trying to commercialize and put things into a peaceful (more like bless me) type of thing rather than teaching the Bible,” he said. “I do believe if preachers would come down off the high horse, and quit preaching, what I call cotton candy messages, that’s all fluff and no substance, I believe there’d be a great difference in the world today.”
And as the church continues to compete for the attention of society today, Jernigan is worried that current social trends might lead to a point in society where Jesus is “completely rejected.”
“Today, there is much more to pull a person away than there was in my day,” he said. “It is much more difficult. And it does appear to me that as the time approaches (Jesus return to put things right), that things are going full circle to the extent that Christ … is going to be completely rejected.”
He urged Christians who left institutional churches but still want to maintain their Christian faith to keep reading the Bible and praying to God for direction.
“My heart goes out to so many people, it really does,” he said. “There are a lot of people out there that are hungry, and they’re thirsting for the Word of God, but they don’t have anyone to give it to them.” You be one of those Christians that does do what Jesus called us to do i.e. bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the lost.
GOD USES CALAMITIES AND CATASTROPHES FOR HIS PURPOSES
We only have to look at the history of God’s own nation Israel to realize that God used catastrophes often to judge it. In fact, God often used barbaric nations like Babylon, Persia, and Egypt to inflict that justice but then subsequently He invariably brought those nations crashing down. God has to judge sin and He will use catastrophes to turn people back to Him.
The great catastrophe of sin brought about by Adam was not settled by the worldwide flood brought about by God. The sin continued through Noah, his wife, and his children. Then in Genesis 10, we see the Table of Nations. From the sons of Noah, we see all people speaking the same language and migrating together into one place in the land of Shinar. This was in direct disobedience to God’s command given to Noah and his sons: “As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it” (Gen. 9:7). This was the second time God gave the command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. He had given the command to Adam in Genesis 1:28. This command is directly and essentially linked to God’s redemptive plan for the world.
Sadly, it is never the goal or desire of corrupted man to do the will of God. Our nature is to follow selfish pursuits. We will protect our little kingdoms regardless of what God may command or what He may want. God must intervene. Amid catastrophe, crisis, and the times when it seems as though the Lord is most absent that He is actually most active. Learning to see gospel opportunities when many others only see crisis is not a skill that comes naturally. Yet it is a skill that the body of Christ must learn. The closer we approach the time of Jesus’ return, the more natural and man-made disasters and calamities we will see. So also then will gospel opportunities increase—if we have eyes to see them.
What about the calamity that has hit California. The sheer volume of rainfall in the state is statistically massive. According to the National Weather Service, rainfall levels are as much as 600% above average across California.
Meanwhile, just under 200,000 homes and businesses were without power as of Tuesday morning, according to PowerOutage.us.
And while the start of 2023 has already proved devastating for California, there could be more challenges in the coming days. The National Weather Service is forecasting heavy rainfall across the state Tuesday and in Northern California on Wednesday, warning that “no significant letup” is expected anytime soon.
Evacuation orders were issued up and down the state Monday due to the threat of flash flooding and mudslides, including in the Montecito area in Santa Barbara County, which is home to celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The flooding has already left at least 16 dead.
What will Christians do in this crisis, hopefully, they will see the opportunity to step in and help which will provide gospel opportunities?
GOD THINGS HAPPENING IN ITALY
Franklin Graham’s Noi Festival in Milan Breaks Attendance Record, Hundreds Respond to Gospel
Noi can mean we or us. It can also mean together or united,” “It also means joining forces, belonging to something bigger.”
More than 520 evangelical churches came together to plan and pray for the Noi Festival with Franklin Graham in Milan, Italy over the weekend, resulting in a historic turnout of people hungry to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. According to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), this marked the first time in Italy’s history that hundreds of Italian churches worked together to share the Gospel. The churches’ efforts resulted in a standing-room-only crowd of more than 13,200 people at the Mediolanum Forum Saturday night.
God is certainly doing something in Italy as this wonderful response to the Gospel follows the recent election of Italy’s Christian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni – whose campaign was based on the belief that the government’s job is to support family, church and civil society rather than control it.
Make sure you pray for Giorgia Meloni and Italy as she is sure to come under intense spiritual warfare. I recently returned from Florence, Italy where I attended my eldest granddaughter’s wedding. Despite the fact that Florence has no visitors from China or Japan due to Covid, still, tourist numbers are breaking records so the city is flourishing.
MIRACLES TODAY
Craig Keener’s new book: Miracles Today: The supernatural work of God in the modern world. is not about miracles that took place in the first century (see his outstanding two-volume tome Miracles for that); this book is about miracles that occur today.
Keener is not one to throw ideas against walls to see if they’ll stick. Keener is one of the best-known scholars of the Bible and early Christianity in the world today. He is careful with his research and documents everything. The point of the book, as the back-cover states, is to demonstrate via examples “that miraculous works of God, which have been part of the experience of the church around the world since Christianity began, continue into the present.”
This stated goal is admirably accomplished by Dr. Keener. He commences the book by addressing a few preliminary questions. What is a miracle, anyway? Why do some people assume that miracles don’t happen? Do many people witness miracles? Do only Christians report Christian healings?
He then launches into the main portion of the book in which he briefly relates the details of hundreds of well-attested miracles, but especially healings. This middle section comprises about 75% of the book proper. At the end of the book, Keener addresses a few more key questions people often wonder about miracles. Why don’t we see more miracles in the West? What is the role of faith? What about when healing is temporary? What does the Bible say about non-healing?
I appreciate Keener’s candid honesty in acknowledging that most blind people who have received prayer are still blind, and most dead people prayed for are still dead (pp. 137, 202). He comments, “What we call miracles are still the exception rather than the rule,” (p. 221). But his main point is that whether you or I have personally witnessed a dramatic miracle or not, many significant and verifiable miracles have occurred and still occur in answer to the prayers of God’s people all around the globe.
One other thing I appreciate about this book is Keener’s acknowledgment that more dramatic miracles occur more frequently on the frontlines of Christian evangelism than they do where the church is well-established (pp. 31, 33 135, 183, 201, 203). He still affirms, however, that such dramatic miracles sometimes happen in the West, too (pp. 151, 203).
Practically, this book reminded me to stay expectant when I pray. In any way He chooses, and at any time He chooses, God may do something momentous to display His glory and help those who witness His mighty acts of mercy to trust Him more fully.
GOD AT WORK IN UKRAINE (PART 2)
Christians are living out Jesus’ teachings as Ukrainians flee invasion. A movement of love, generosity sweeps Poland as it opens arms to Ukrainians
CHELM, Poland — With little more than the clothes on their back, hundreds of Ukrainian women and children wait hours in line to cross into Poland as part of the largest movement of people in Europe since World War II. They shuffle their feet quietly, even apprehensively, toward an unknown future in an unfamiliar country.
They’re stunned when they arrive. Volunteers have taped Ukrainian flags in their car windows and signs in Ukrainian reading, “free rides to shelter.” The drivers take the refugees to the Baptist church in Chelm, only a few kilometers up the road where people from around the world — Poland, Latvia, England, the United States, to name a few — are offering a place of safety and security for a few hours, few days or as long as they need it.
Families sit in stunned silence in an impromptu reception area where church volunteers tell the refugees the church has free food, drinks, showers, and places to sleep. The congregation even has a set-up children’s area where they can play with bubbles or watch educational videos projected on a screen.
“What we’re seeing is a movement of love and generosity across this nation. Poles are opening their doors and arms to Ukrainians. They are taking them into their churches. They are taking them into their homes. They are feeding them. They are caring for them,” said Marek Glodek, president of the Baptist Union of Poland.
“This is what Jesus calls His believers to do all the time. Polish Christians are taking the teachings of Jesus seriously and living them out each day during this situation.”
More than 60% of the 110 Poland Baptist churches are responding to the needs of Ukrainian refugees, many of them in dramatic and radical ways.
At a warehouse in Chelm, donations for Ukrainians are coming in as fast as they are going out to Ukraine and to shelters across Poland. The deliveries continue even after Russia intensifies attacks on the western portion of Ukraine.
In north Poland, church members installed new insulation, air conditioning, heating, electrical lines and beds in an old summer camp to revitalize it to house refugees.
Near the Belarus border, a church is providing shelter for about 50 people and sending supplies into Ukraine despite increased Russian aggression.
“More than 1.5 million Ukrainians have sought safety in Poland,” said Mickey Lenamon, TBM executive director and CEO. “Baptists worldwide have joined together to meet their needs. TBM is honored to be part of that, whether it is through funding, sorting and loading donations in-country, setting up beds, or even doing the little things that are needed like cleaning floors and toilets. We see what believers throughout the region are doing and are seeking to do likewise: follow Christ daily and share His love.”
GOD AT WORK IN THE UKRAINE (PART 1)
Miracles are taking place in Ukraine, despite the horror of war, according to the Deputy General Secretary of the Ukrainian Bible Society. Anatoliy Raychynets, who is based in the capital Kyiv, says more and more people are turning to Christianity to find light in the darkness since the Russian invasion began, and he says the power of God is preventing even worse devastation.
Day by day, women with small kids are running here outside our office in the streets to find the basement bombing room to hide themselves there. Many people are crying out to help them to get out of Kyiv.
“Many people haven’t eaten for 3 or 4 days. There are many elderly people living in apartments around my office who cannot go outside because of illness. They just sit inside waiting for a miracle that someone will come to them. They call us “Angels!” when we find they need medical help and bring medicine and bread.” Despite the risks, Raychynets and his team help distribute food and medical supplies to local people, along with Bibles and resources. He says that many people ask for the Bibles, even if they haven’t previously had a faith. “Yesterday we were in a park to deliver bread to elderly people who were coming together and waiting for us so that they could have fresh bread. I always have Bibles in my car so that children can have Bibles for the bomb shelters and I can distribute to basements where people, ladies and children are hiding themselves. But one lady saw the Bibles in the car and asked to have one.
“There were about 80 or 90 people there and they just came to the car and asked for the Bibles. One man stood there with bread in one hand and the Bible in the other. He said ‘I think the Bible is more important than the bread. I have never prayed before. I have never been to church.’ He was about 70 years old and had never read the Bible. But he said he knew now was the time to come to God and be closer to God. “We meet so many people like that. Over the last two weeks here in Kyiv we are seeing people who had never had a Bible before, never prayed before, but who are now asking for us to pray for them on the streets, at homes, everywhere. “People are searching for their faith because they know a miracle has to happen to resolve this situation. We don’t see any diplomatic or other solutions, we just know and understand deep inside only God can make some changes and stop this horrible war.”
But even in the amidst of the horrors of war, Raychynets says God is at work and miracles are happening. “We are very grateful to all of you who are standing with us in prayer and solidarity. I want to tell you that with prayer we see so many miracles. I have seen personally many miracles over the last 16 days – when bombs or rockets have fallen but not exploded and lots of lives have been saved because of that. Russian tanks have been left because they were empty of fuel and soldiers have run off. “In Odessa, in the Black Sea, there has been a storm for four days and ships couldn’t come closer to the city to shoot rockets. So prayers are already bringing results and miracles are saving a lot of lives.” Even as a Pastor, Raychynets says it is difficult to see so much pain and suffering.
This difficult situation is already changing our nation and changing our attitude to life. People are standing together, people are helping each other. I see so much of God’s love, in spite of war here. I think that Ukraine will come out of this situation like a real Christian nation that believes in God. It’s very evident that God does use catastrophes for His purposes and sadly they are needed to bring people to understand what is truly important in life. God is in control of His world and only His eternal purposes are of real significance.
WHEN GOD’S DISCIPLES GO MIRACLES FOLLOW
Missionaries working with Southern Baptist Convention (IMB) reported baptisms were up 81% from 2019 to 2020 (the most recent year for which data is available), and salvation testimonies continue to pour in.
The increases are particularly significant in a denomination where many cite missions as their reason for joining and staying.
Typical Testimony: A 53-year-old Thai man with chest pain went to see an IMB medical missionary outside Bangkok. The man collapsed in the clinic and regained consciousness only after the IMB missionary, a physician, performed emergency medical procedures.
As they waited for an ambulance, the man prayed to receive Christ, prompting the doctor to ask, “When did you start to become interested in God ’s story?”
The man pointed to the place on the floor where he collapsed and said, “Right there. Before that, I had never been interested at all. But when I collapsed, I heard God call my name three times, and I knew he was warning me.”
That wasn’t an isolated incident, according to IMB reports. The evangelistic surge, missiologists say, is attributable to the fact we are there (obedient to God’s call), the pandemic, and the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit. Several years ago under David Platt, IMB transferred ministries from missionaries to national partners.
“We have seen the Holy Spirit working across the globe in mighty ways,” said Wilson Geisler, IMB director of global research. One missionary team “saw the first believers among an incredibly tough-to-reach people group.” Another “saw more people coming to faith in 2020 than in the previous three years combined.
Jesus promised that in the last days before His return the GOSPEL, the GOOD NEWS, the only good news in a time of tribulation will be proclaimed throughout the whole world. Do you want to be part of the team proclaiming the GOOD NEWS? You can be like David (“I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.” Acts 13:22), just obey the indwelling Holy Spirit.
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24: 14
BEING OBEDIENT TO THE HOLY SPIRIT PROMPTINGS
Tim Halfin, a regional director for a pharmacy in Magnolia, Texas, is giving God all the glory after he miraculously found a little boy who had been lost in the woods for three days.
Halfin, who is a Christian, explained to Faithwire he was sitting in a Bible study on Friday when he learned about 3-year-old Christopher Ramirez, who went missing two days earlier after he chased a dog into the woods.
“During our prayer for this little boy,” he said, “the Holy Spirit just popped in me, ‘Tomorrow morning, you’ll go look for him,’ and I did. There’s been a few times in my life that the Holy Spirit has really spoken to me and I’ve obeyed and, of course, the outcome is always great.”
Christopher had been missing since around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. Local law enforcement officials, community members, and the little boy’s mother had been searching for the toddler to no avail. Halfin joined the search just before noon Saturday.
As he was looking, Halfin recalled hearing noises in the woods, though he wasn’t sure if it was Christopher. He nevertheless called sheriff’s deputies, who arrived on ATVs, clearly discouraged by the lack of success they’d had in finding the lost little boy.
It wasn’t too long after that Halfin found Christopher, who had shed all his clothing, even his shoes. He had no protection whatsoever.
“When I saw him, it was immediately, ‘Praise God! This is answered prayer!’” Halfin said, adding that the look on the child’s face when he picked him up was, “I’ve been waiting for you, where have you been?”
“I think God had been protecting this little boy all along,” he continued. “I think Jesus had been talking to him for three nights and now going on four days.”
As a believer, Halfin said he always knew God could perform miracles; he’d read about them all throughout Scripture. But now he has been part of one.
Tim went on to say there is “no explanation” for the rescue, noting he believes God performed three miracles for Christopher.
No. 1, he was protected against all these elements. There are a lot of predators in those wood, wild animals.
No. 2, he would survive for as long as he did without water.
No. 3, he would be found really miles away from where they were even looking for him.
Halfin said, “My prayer is for those who don’t see this as a miracle, that they would come to know Jesus and then they would know that it only had to be a miracle.”
At the centre of the story, Halfin said, is God. He told Faithwire he’s “regretful” so many have focused on him in the story, saying the miraculous outcome for Christopher is truly about “what the Lord has done here.”
The little boy’s mother, Araceli Nunez, is a “strong woman of faith,” Halfin said.
“She knew from the beginning that God was gonna bring her son back to her,” he added. “In between that point, there was a lot of prayers lifted up … and then, at the end, the Lord led me to him and just answered everybody’s prayer right there.”
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 