madame
hey. my name is minqi!I am trying to bring the best out of myself and others, believing that crazy people change the world! so
weather :D
Saturday, March 21, 2009 12:52 AM
wow. was super blessed by Evangelism Explosion!! the video by Pst Bill especially!! omgosh!! it really captured my heart and soul and about Aaron standing between the living and the dead to make a difference!! below are two devotions written by PAstor Kong.. and i think it really is a word in season for E149!!WELCOMING THE LOST!
It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is
alive again, and was lost and is found. Luke 15:32
Jesus was often accused by the Pharisees for being too welcoming with sinners like parable of the lost sheep, (2) the parable of the lost coin, and (3) the parable of the lost son. Jesus doesn’t believe in a “token hunt” for the lost. He doesn’t believe in just walking through the harvest field proclaiming that harvest time has come. Jesus believes in the actual ingathering of the lost.
As the Good Shepherd, Jesus counts the sheep in His flock every day. In church, we count people because people count! Every number represents a life that Christ died for on the cross. Without counting, how would a shepherd know if any of his sheep is missing? A good shepherd would “go after the one which is lost until he finds it”(Luke 15:4). A conscientious woman who has lost a silver coin would “light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it” (Luke 15:8). Soul-winning is too important a task to be left to half-hearted, token efforts.
In the parable of the prodigal son, after feeding swine in the pigsty, the son fi nally came to his senses. He would go home to his father and confess his sins to him. He would then make amends by working as a hired servant. There was true repentance and a desire to make restitution. When the lost son was still a distance from his home, his father saw him. For many months now, dad has been standing by the gate every day, waiting for his son to come home. And when the father met him, he hugged the son, gave him the best robe, put a ring on his fi nger and new sandals on his feet, killed the best calf, and threw him the best party in town. Unfortunately, the elder son didn’t share in the celebration. He was unhappy about the fuss made over the return of his lost brother.
Have you ever wondered what might have happened if the elder brother greeted the prodigal son first at the gate? His holier-than-thou attitude would have forever driven him back to the pigsty! It would have confirmed the negative bias that sinners like him could never start life afresh. Thank God it was the merciful father and not the harsh elder brother who greeted him at the door.
The three parables of Luke 15 tell us this: (1) soul-winning is serious work, (2) soulwinning is dedicated work, and (3) soul-winning is compassionate work. Watch your attitude the next time you meet people who are really “messed up” in life. Your attitude can give them the faith they need to start life afresh, or drive them further away from God. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
And he stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped. Numbers 16:48
In Numbers 16, 250 Israelite leaders joined Korah, Dathan and Abiram in a rebellion against Moses. They were jealous of Moses’ authority and leadership. They wanted equal rights for all the leaders. Personally, Korah wanted a position and ministry that God had not given him.
There is always a tendency to downgrade the pastor in a church. But while the pastor is an elder, not all elders are pastors. You can’t put Moses on the same level as Korah, and you can’t put Korah on the same level as Moses.
This rebellion was a serious attack, not only against Moses, but against God Himself. The earth then opened up and fire came from heaven to consume the 250 leaders. The next day, the sympathizers of the rebels started murmuring against Moses. They felt that Moses and God were too harsh to Korah and the 250 men. By criticizing them, they were in effect saying that they had more compassion than God.
The Lord immediately spoke to Moses, “Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” A plague swept through the people and 14,700 men began falling down dead. Aaron quickly took a censer, and with some fire from the altar, ran into the midst of the people and started making atonement for their wrongdoing. He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped (Num. 16:48-49).
Who was Aaron? He was just one man in the midst of a terrible plague that was killing the multitude. He was an elderly man who was too old to exert himself. He was a man who bore the scars of failure in both ministry and life. Yet, he ran to the altar, caught some fi re and stood between the living and the dead. And where he stood, the plague stopped.
This simple story was the rhema that launched our “Church Without Walls” ministry to the poor and needy in 1995. The essence of Christianity is simply loving God and loving people (Matt. 22:36-40). If you are willing to go to God’s altar, catch the fire of compassion, and stand between the living and the dead in your community, you can stop the ravages of sin and death.
Can one man make a difference? Aaron was a man of limited abilities. He was a man marked with many public failures. But when he caught the fire of compassion, he stood between the living and the dead and made the difference. With God’s compassion in your heart, you too can make a difference in your world.
wow, really blessed. priase God for breakthroughs in friends in e149 and may this revival continue forever! (: AMEN!