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Danielkolenda.com
13. March 2010 - 23:35
The Coast Guard receives an urgent call from a vessel in distress and deploys a life-boat to the exact coordinates of the accident. When they arrive they find a man clinging to a capsized fishing vessel that is slowly sinking. The officers throw a lifeline to the castaway and instruct him to take a hold if it and wrap it around himself. But he hesitates. In order to take the lifeline, he must let go of the sinking vessel. He must choose between the two and his choice will determine his fate.
In this world everyone seems to be clinging to something. Some cling to science, some to religion, some cling to pride while others cling to fantasies. The imperative of the Gospel is to repent; to change ones mind and direction. Essentially to let go of whatever one’s hope is in to take hold of that which can truly save them. It is often the fear of letting go that keeps many people from eternal life. The scripture gives us a living parable of this truth. (Matthew 19:16-26)
The culture in which Jesus lived was one that viewed wealth as a sign of God’s approval. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had all been exorbitantly wealthy men as a result of God’s blessing and it was widely believed that all those who were righteous would also receive such blessings from the Lord.
It was in this cultural context that a rich young man came to Jesus one day and asked a question. “Good Master”, he said, “What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?”
This young man came to Jesus, not for salvation, but for affirmation. He started out with a compliment (Good Master) and was hoping to receive one in return.
When Jesus told him to keep the commandments, he requested clarification, “Which commandments?” He wanted to be very specific so that he could check them off his laundry list of good deeds.
At first Jesus played along; “Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother: and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
This was the moment the young man had waited for. “All these things have I kept from my youth up”, he said, “What lack I yet?” This is where Jesus was supposed to say, “Wow! What an honor to meet you. Let me shake your hand. You are an incredibly good person!”
But instead Jesus threw him a curve ball: “If you wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor…and come and follow me.”
Some have mistakenly thought that the instructions of Jesus to this rich young man were implying that giving to the poor is the key to righteousness or that one can buy salvation, but actually the opposite is true. Look carefully. Jesus was asking this young man to let go of the very thing that was a tangible symbol of his “righteousness”. The riches of this young man were “evidence” that he was a good person and he put great confidence in them. They were essentially the capsized boat to which he was clinging and now Jesus was instructing him to let them go and follow him.
The rich young man went away sorrowful, the Bible says, because he had great possessions and here we learn a great lesson about the grace of God. Jesus will send no one away empty except those that are full of themselves.
Jesus then turned to his disciples and made a remarkable comment. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,” he said, “than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” I have heard some people try to explain this passage by saying that the “eye of the needle” was an ancient term for a very small door that a camel would have to crawl through. This is nonsense. If I were telling the story I might say, “It is easier for an elephant to bathe in a thimble than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” The point is what Jesus reiterated with the next breath, “With men this is impossible”.
Entire sects of Christianity have misunderstood this passage to mean that money is bad and that rich people cannot go to heaven, but such an interpretation misses the whole point of this story! You see, the disciples had always considered rich people to be the ones who were MOST righteous and the ones with whom God was MOST pleased. If rich people were not even “good” enough to enter the Kingdom of God, then who was? This is why it says that, “When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, “Who then can be saved?”
The message was obvious. If it is impossible for the rich to be saved, it is impossible for anyone to be saved. No matter how big your capsized boat is, they are all sinking. There is nothing “With men” that can save you. It is impossible to earn salvation; through righteousness, riches or any amount of “goodness”. Religion can’t save you. Science can’t save you. Education can’t save you. Pride and self-confidence can’t save you. “With men this is impossible.”
Then Jesus gave them the Gospel of Salvation; “But with God” he said, “All things are possible”. When Jesus declared this, he was already on his way to Calvary. He knew that God had a plan to make the impossible possible. Jesus would bridge this impossible chasm between God and man, between sin and salvation, between Heaven and Hell. He would be the lifeline that God would cast into the boiling ocean of sin. I can hear the imperative from Heaven to the drowning soul, “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ”
Salvation comes down to a choice between what is “With man” and what is “With[…]
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Danielkolenda.com
12. March 2010 - 5:05
Another great thought from Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke via his Facebook page
James says, “Every good gift … comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17, NKJV). As the NJV puts it, God “does not change like shifting shadows.” The sun causes a shadow as it turns and the shadow moves. When there is no shadow, the sun is directly overhead at its zenith. God never casts a shadow at all, because He is always at the zenith. And He never shifts from that perfect position. The light of God is ceaseless, not temporary, and always fully radiant.
His is the everlasting light that we are to eternally reflect. Our faces should not be veiled, as His glory will not pass away. We are being changed “from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18, NKJV)-we are given more and more glory! Hallelujah!
~ BY REINHARD BONNKE (03/08/2010)
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Danielkolenda.com
9. March 2010 - 8:25
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” ~ John 3:8
I am a native Floridian and I have been through many hurricanes, but 2004 was by far the most active hurricane season I have ever experienced in my life. Although I am originally from Port Charlotte (a town in the southwest), I was living in Tampa Bay at the time.
In August we watched with nervous curiosity as a tropical storm off the coast of Africa began to gain strength and started barreling toward us. By the time it swept down into the Gulf of Mexico it was a full-blown hurricane with winds topping 100 miles per hour. All of the weather forecasts predicted that it would make landfall in Tampa Bay so we began to make preparations; buying water and batteries, barricading windows with plywood and bringing outdoor furniture inside. We became concerned when we saw that the winds were approaching 150 miles per hour as the inevitable moment of impact drew near.
Suddenly, while only about 100 miles away, hurricane “Charley” took an unexpected, unpredicted and abrupt easterly, 90 degree turn and made a beeline for Port Charlotte…the town where I was born. I called home to make sure that my family was aware of the danger they were in. Before the power went out, they had been watching the same news channels that I was watching and they also thought that Charley was headed for Tampa Bay. The whole city was taken off guard and it was literally a matter of minutes before the eye of the mammoth storm would pass directly over them. They had not made any pre-storm preparations. No windows were boarded. Provisions were not stockpiled. This category 4 hurricane devastated the town to such an extent that when I arrived the following day, places I had known since childhood were totally unrecognizable.
Some have scoffed condescendingly at the words of Jesus to Nicodemous claiming that his assessment; “you cannot tell where the wind is coming from or where it is going” is an outdated statement. Science, they say, has made this opinion invalid. Doppler radar, satellite imagery, fancy gizmos and computer gadgets have made the weather as predictable as can be in our day. But I remember that afternoon in August when every prediction was off by at least a hundred miles. And we all learned that the words of Jesus still hold true today.
The wind is unpredictable and it is untamable. You can’t confine it to a prescribed pattern and you can’t hold it to preconceived expectations. It does what it wants and asks no one for permission. And if you think you have it figured out, that is just when you will be terribly surprised that the wind is not your subordinate. It can turn and change direction on a whim and if you are not ready it just might catch you by surprise.
I heard of a man today who describes his church as “Charismatic friendly with a seatbelt”. He has apparently preapproved a way in which the Holy Spirit is allowed to move in his Church. He has issued a permit for a particular sort of spiritual activity but requires that it remained buckled in at all times. We wouldn’t want anyone flying out of their seat and going through the windshield. Everything must be done according to our definition of “decently and in order”.
Those who have become familiar with the Holy Spirit know that this is simply not the way it works. In fact the more we know about the Holy Spirit, the more we realize that, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. The moving of Holy Spirit cannot be prescribed or predicted. I have heard preachers encourage their members to “let God out of the box”, but I have news for those precious Christians. God was never in their box to begin with. If you have a box, the only one inside it is you. And if you have a seatbelt, you are the only one wearing it.
How dare we think that we can tame this mighty hurricane of God that has been blowing through the earth since the day of Pentecost! He is the sameSpirit that hovered over the primordial chaos before creation. He is the same Spirit that spoke to the fathers through the prophets. He is the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. He is God in action on earth.
Are you disturbed by abuses in the Charismatic church? So am I. But I am most supremely concerned about those abusing the presence of the Holy Spirit. He is not a water spicket to be turned on and off at will according to our preferences. He is the limitless ocean of God’s infinite power. A gnat is more formidable commanding a hurricane than we are commanding the Holy Spirit. Its high time we get back in our place and say HAVE YOUR WAY HOLY SPIRIT!
We don’t command you. We don’t define you. We cont control you. We don’t limit you. We yield to you and we honor you Great Holy Spirit of God!
Oh, see us on Your altar lay,
We give our lives to you today,
So crown the offering now we pray:
Send the fire today!
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Danielkolenda.com
8. March 2010 - 16:59
In Matthew 21, we read the parable of the landlord who sent messengers to his rebellious property manager. They beat ONE. They killed ANOTHER. They stoned ANOTHER. AGAIN he sent servants MORE than at first and last of all he sent his very own son whom they also killed. In the end that rebellious manager was destroyed and it is often that part of the story that most people are drawn to. But what jumps out at me is the incredible persistence and amazing patience of the landlord.
Since the beginning of time, God has pursued humanity with unremitting, persistent and relentless grace. He has been shunned, kicked, mocked, blasphemed, insulted, cursed, hated and offended and yet, He comes back again extending mercy and space to repent. For thousands of years, God sent the prophets to Israel with warning after warning; calling them back to the God with whom they had covenanted. Over and over they rejected these messengers; spitting in their faces and killing them. Finally God sent His own Son; the ultimate expression of His relentless love. They tortured and killed him just as they had done to the others and yet one can hear the voice of God weeping through the prophets: “Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like Admah or demolish you like Zeboiim? My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows.” (Hos 11:8 NLT)
How often God calls to the prodigal. How relentlessly He extends grace to the sinner. His persistence is unremitting. He says, “Behold I stand at the door and knock…”. But he does not knock like the mailman who taps twice and then leaves. He knocks like a child at the door of it’s parents; over and over and over again. He knocks and knocks and knocks throughout our whole lives. He speaks to us through messengers, through situations, through nature, through science, through the Bible, through our conscience and through the Holy Spirit. God is not willing that ANY should perish, but that ALL should come to repentance. To some His persistence is obnoxious, but this is the “Amazing Grace” that we sing about because without this drawing, none of us could ever come to God in the first place.
The Reuben Donnelly Co is one of the largest printers in America. They are the first ones to create the “Yellow Pages” telephone directories and also specialized in magazines at one time. They had a machine at their Chicago facility, which was intended to help them to retain their magazine subscriptions by sending out renewal notices to people whose subscriptions were expiring. One day the machine malfunctioned and produced multiple notices to the same individuals. In fact, one poor man received a total of 9,734 such notices at his ranch in Powder Bluff, Colorado. Rather than becoming angry, he got in his truck and drove 10 miles into town and walked into the local post office. He addressed an envelope to the Reuben Donnelly Co, put his money for the subscription renewal inside together with a hand-written note that read: “Send me the magazine. I give up!”
Of course one day the knocking will stop and the window of mercy will close, as was the unfortunate end of the property manager in Jesus’ parable. The Day of Judgment is fast approaching, but if you are reading this right now, there is still hope for you. How can you resist God’s relentless love any longer? When will you answer the persistent knocking at your hearts door? When will you throw up your arms and say, “I give up”? Don’t send yet another messenger away. Don’t throw yet another opportunity away. Who knows…this one may be your last.
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Danielkolenda.com
7. March 2010 - 4:24
Just a few days ago we held a mass Gospel Campaign in the city of Numan, Nigeria. Over the course of 5 days more than 800,000 people attended the meetings and 557,860 decisions cards were registered from those professing their newfound faith in Christ. You can read the reports from each of the nights below:
ARRIVAL
DAY 1
DAY 2
DAY 3
DAY 4
DAY 5
As usual, I am posting some interesting pictures that you would not have seen in the normal reports and publications to give you a fascinating “behind the scenes” insight. Enjoy….
This is the desk in my hotel room. Al Kaaba is the cube building in center of Mecca and the holiest site in Islam toward which devout Muslims face when they pray
This is a picture of me taking a picture of the coolest instrument ever (see the picture from my camera below)
This has got to be the coolest instrument ever. Best I can tell, it is made from wood that is attached to horns by pieces of leather and played with mallets like a xylophone
Local "mammas" preform a traditional ceremonial dance. A fascinating cultural experience.
This is what I do while I wait...I blog - for YOU!
Imagine walking into your room on an EXTREMELY hot day to discover that this is your air conditioner
Following the example of Zacchaeus they got the best seats in the house
The view from my room in our hotel in Abuja
Press Conference
Awesome glasses!!!
Jacko hard at work on the crusade ground
You can't buy this kind of advertising!
Filming a greeting for the folks back home
(Most Pictures by O. Volyk)
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