| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Uganda is an East African nation which experienced a terrible holocaust of violence and killings back in the seventies, but is now one of the more stable of the African nations. I recently preached in an evangelistic mission and held a church leadership conference in the capital city, Kampala. One of the attractions for me about ministering in Kampala is its relative nearness to my Spirit of Grace Africa team which is based in western Kenya. These wonderful brothers are a tremendous help to me in organizing my meetings, and I have to consider them some of my closest friends and colleagues in ministry. Little did I know that all chaos would break out in Kenya just weeks before we would have these meetings, which made it difficult and even dangerous for them to be on the roads at that time. But we’ll talk more about that later. One of the blessings we experienced in the Kampala was a wonderful praise and worship team that added so much to the meetings. In America churches sometimes split their worship between old fashioned hymns and the contemporary choruses. In Africa we saw the music divided in two categories as well – but the categories were the more typical African music and praise and worship that had been imported from America. It was wonderful for me to be able to sing along with my African brothers and sisters when we sang the American songs. In the evangelistic meetings we experienced what we normally do – the Holy Spirit honoring the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of the things you often hear, when people talk of ministering in other nations is the need to be culturally relevant. And there is some truth in that. If I try to use an illustration that is based upon a washing machine, the Africans are going to have a hard time with that. Ninety percent of them have never used a washing machine in their lives. They wash their clothes by hand in large plastic bowls. Or if I refer to pizza or tacos or eating at an Olive Garden restaurant, most would look at me with blank stares. On the other hand, the Bible, in both its stories and its doctrines is always universally applicable. Man’s sinful and lost condition, Christ’s love and sacrifice, and justification by faith will always be relevant in every culture, language, and nation. Jesus’ love for the woman at the well, His refusal to condemn the woman caught in adultery, His healing of the woman with the issue of blood, and His love for the tax collector, Zacchaeus are stories that all people can appreciate and benefit by. Heaven and hell, justice and grace, and God’s holiness and love are truths that are both timeless and transcendent of culture. This is why I deliberately stay very Scriptural and very close to the gospels as I lift up Jesus in evangelistic settings.
I taught on Jesus’ healing ministry
each night and prayed for the sick. A pastor stopped me In the church leadership conference I shared messages about living in the Last Days and how to effectively minister in these days. In one of the messages I shared about why we can be confident of success in our ministries, when our ministries are centered around God’s word, His love, and His Son. The things I shared mean a great deal to me, and are things are constantly on my mind as I prepare for ministry. There is a great deal of pressure that you face in ministry, especially when you spend great amounts of time, money, and energy in preparing for these evangelistic outreaches all over the world, as I do. If I thought that my success or failure depended exclusively upon myself, I would be in big trouble. But I have learned that God has provided us wonderful reasons to trust Him for success in our ministries, and understanding this relieves a great deal of the pressure. The first and perhaps the most important of these reasons is the love of God. Because God loves His creation we do not need to somehow persuade a reluctant God to bless our evangelistic efforts. He is far more eager to draw souls to Himself than we are to see it happen. Our job is to lay hold of His willingness, not to overcome His reluctance. One of the painful aspects of this trip was to hear the stories of misery and chaos in Kenya from my Pastor friends who live there. Kenya has been considered one of the most stable and peaceful of all the African nations until recently, but has erupted into violence after what many consider to be a rigged election. The controversy has resulted in tribe being pitted against tribe and neighbor against neighbor. Gangs of youths roam the nation, looting, burning houses, and killing people who happen to be from a tribe that they are at odds with. Dawson Mudenyo has been my cameraman
for many of our crusades. He was with his wife in a van a few weeks ago,
when a gang blocked his way and forced him to pull over. Because his wife
was from the Kikuya tribe, he knew the odds were great that this gang would
kill her. He pulled over as though he was going to stop and when they came
close to the van, he floored it and made an escape, almost hitting one of
the gang members. Pastor Alex Masika is one of my oldest and best friends from Kenya. He was driving to a town where he hoped to rescue a stranded Christian, when he was pulled over. He was taken out of his van, force to lay on the road, and beaten. He is now recovering after treatment for his injuries. This tragedy is so widespread and the hatred so deep-rooted it seems like an almost hopeless situation. World news is reporting hundreds have been killed but my friends from Kenya tell me this is vastly underestimated – that in actuality thousands have died and hundreds of thousands have had to flee their homes. In an email I received after I returned from Uganda, I read of a pastor whom we bought a bicycle for a couple of years ago. My friend writes: "Pastor Peter Marani was at the church with his wife and a one month old baby when this incident occurred. The rest of their 5 children were at home. Peter heard shouts and screaming, and looked out the window. The whole village was ablaze and the people burning the houses were coming towards the church. He took the baby from his wife and began running, the rest of the people had to run for their lives. They were forced to spend the night at the bush near the river. He did not know whether the children were safe or what happened until the next day when they all met at the military camp with other people who had fled from their homes - about 5,000 people. Peter and his family stayed for 8 days without bathing or showering but only having drops of water to quench their thirst and few biscuits donated for them to eat. Peter lost 2 cows, 36 bags of maize, 5 bags of beans, the bicycle you had given him for evangelism and 2 houses." Another pastor was visiting his neighbors when they were attacked. This man ran outside and ran into a herd of cows. The attackers were armed with bows and arrows and shot at him, but the arrows hit the cows and the pastor was able to get away. However the neighbors he had been visiting were all killed – husband, wife, and twelve year old child. Within the association of pastors that we work with in Kenya, three have lost their homes. They are living in terrible conditions in refugee camps. I want to ask you to consider making a contribution to provide for their welfare. We need to get them out of these terrible camps and into rented housing where they can lead more normal lives. If we receive enough money, and things calm down we would like to help them into new housing. A simple structure in Kenya can be built for a couple of thousand dollars that would enable them to live as a normal family, enroll their children back in school, and begin to rebuild their lives. Please consider making a donation to help the Kenya pastors. Mark your check “For Kenya pastors” and we will send every penny over to Kenya for the aid of these pastors and their families that have suffered so greatly. As
always, we appreciate so much your partnership with us in proclaiming the
gospel around the world and training ministers. I marvel to see how God
provides for us to do the work He has called us to do. Often the funds come
in at the last moment, and our faith is tested, but God has In ancient Israel there was a sacrificial system instituted, and most of the animal sacrifices were made as a way of seeking forgiveness for sins. But there was a special offering that was sometimes offered that had nothing to do with sin. It was the thank offering. This was given simply because an Israelite was wanting a way to express his or her gratitude to God for His goodness. I believe this should be our motive as we support the work of Christ. We are not trying to win God’s favor or somehow make atonement for a bad day or a bad week. We give simply because we recognize how good God has been to us, and we want to say “Thank You.” And thank you for your faithfulness to pray for us. When I get up to preach and sense the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, I know that God is answering the prayers of His people. I want to encourage you to read our newsletter and be much in for our outreach events. Someone has once said, “Little prayer – little power, much prayer – much power, no prayer – no power.” Your prayers really do make a difference. In Uganda we saw a little under 700 people come forward to receive Christ as Savior. The presence of the Holy Spirit was very much evident in the meetings. We praise God for His goodness in so generously blessing us with His presence and His power, in response to the prayers of His people.
|
In
most evangelistic meetings there seems to be a night, usually the second or
third night of the meetings where we see a breakthrough, both in anointing
and in an increase of the number of people who respond to the invitations to
receive Christ. In these meetings it happened on the third night of the
crusade. I preached a very basic message on heaven and hell, and shared how
Christ came to deliver us from God’s wrath, and was preparing a place in
heaven for those who would trust in Him. At the end of the message we saw an
immediate and powerful response from the people. Clearly heaven and hell are
still relevant evangelistic topics!
after a meeting was over and explained his situation to me. He had had some
kind of a virus that had gone into his leg and required an injection some
time ago. The result of this was that his leg had been permanently damaged
and he lived with stiffness and soreness constantly. After prayer the Lord
instantly touched him and he was completely healed. He knew it immediately
and told me, “I’m healed.” 
