Wow, a little nervous to be my honest self, seems like I'm too radical for even some of my grace friends! I feel over the past few days the enemy is coming at me from many different angles, and unexpected ones, to make me feel very alone and even tempting me to be apologetic for my passion for the gospel. This is not to say that there aren't some faults on my part for how I can often come barreling into people with too much at the wrong time and knock them over before they know what hits them! I don't ever want to lose the passion, intensity, and boldness that I believe God loves about me, but I would like my love and compassion to become more obvious to people, if you know what I mean. Some days we have to be content knowing God loves us whether other people do or not.
K, so none of that has to do with Hong Kong really. I don't know where to start. The trip was long, I think I already mentioned that. So, the first thing of note I guess was that I got to visit with Ryan and Kylie for an afternoon before the conference started, and it was so exciting to see the stacks of Ryan's freshly printed books! This is one new ministry that has me really excited, Ryan's vision to start making more grace resources available by publishing and distributing books and worship music. AMEN!!!!!Thank-you Jesus!!!!
The next thing of note is that when I went to meet Lydia at the airport we somehow missed each other so after a few hours I finally went back to my room and there she was! I was so proud of her for finding her own way, believe me, she must have had guardian angels. Having Lydia bunking with me was definately a major highlight of the trip, we've never gotten to spend so much time together, uninterrupted especially! And the girl is oozing the joy of glorious grace, and FREEDOM! We had some amazing fellowship, though I think we stayed up too late most nights. Also if you want to see pictures, head over to her blog, she's got quite a few up or to City Church's facebook group page, hundreds more there.
The conference started the next morning on Wednesday, and opened with Rob furiously preaching the gospel (after a couple of worship songs and an opening of the conference by a Chinese family from City Church). It was classic Rob grace preaching, doesn't get any better than that! The second session was Rob continuing in the same vein to lay the foundation for the conference. We had the afternoon off and mainly we rested and ate. Unfortunately we really didn't do any sight seeing except for an afternoon down at the waterfront with a ferry ride. Poor Lydia! But she claims she didn't mind...
The evening session was Joshua Mills I believe. He was sharing some testimonies and stopping every so often to pray for certain people in the crowd, Fini and Isi were among the first, he actually came out with their full street address though he didn't know them! He healed some, and came walking through the hall showing us the oil that was coming on his hands. A lady in front of us got some off his hands and let us smell it, it had a strange smell (some said like vanilla, others said other things) I think that was also the same night we were smelling other good smells all night.
Josh is very pleasant and joyful and I really like seeing people get healed and hearing testimonies so I found it all enjoyable. I personally didn't find he showed much of an understanding of the difference between Old Covenant Glory and New, though he began to talk about it a little more later on. He seemed to know the Old Testament very well but rarely if ever used New Testament. I was very glad that he was able to hear Rob preach the gospel and hope that God will use the experience to strengthen the foundations of his ministry even more, and that even more signs and wonders and miracles and salvations will come as he begins to see Jesus more and more as the glory cloud we now live in!
Some people were not bothered by any of this at all, but I found myself leaving not feeling satisfied, as I've begun to notice is what always has happened to me in the past when my focus is on experiencing some amazing thing. I found that being at the conference dredged up some old stuff that I've always had issues with in charismatic settings. Rob had talked a bit in the beginning something about not hindering what God wants to do, something in regards to manifestations or being self-conscious, I don't really remember exactly. This really really distracted me, probably in large part due to my history of interactions with charismatic ministy times in the past, having been criticized and judged for not falling or acting weird enough. I guess the assumption is that if nothing weird appears to be happening to your body then you are not free and must be resisting the Holy Spirit's work in your life. This has always left me feeling confused, self-conscious, and condemned. I want to state clearly that I KNOW this was not Rob's intention, and it is clear how much he loves people and just wants them to be free. Nevertheless, I ended up in the bathroom stall crying my eyes out to God during worship of the first session on Thursday morning.
Ahhh, God is good. Of course he spoke to me and loved me and comforted me. He is so happy with where we are in our relationship right now, and this may sound weird but he said he is not a rapist. He will never push me to expressions of love which are beyond where we are in our relationship, he will never treat me like a prostitute. He showed me that my intimacy with my husband has grown and evolved the longer we are together and the more we trust one another, but if it had been forced on me it would not have been love. The main purpose of experiences with him is to bless me, not to impress anyone or please him. It pleases him to please me, and he KNOWS me, really KNOWS me and knows exactly what I need, want, and enjoy. I don't know if I'm explaining this right, but after this I was much better and able to be much less distracted and worried about what people were thinking of me. After all, I just wanted to be able to freely enjoy God and his presence!
So the sessions, the order ect..I'm fuzzy on a bit. I'm sure there will be much more detailed accounts (and possibly at least some recordings) coming soon from others anyway. I know Fini spoke on ministering out of rest, out of God's presence and how church is just meaningless when God's presence isn't there. So true! His main text was come to me all you who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. One of my favorite verses of all time! Fini seems very laid back and pretty happy, two qualities I always appreciate, of course he's still passionate in worship, I particulary remember one point where he started kicking up his legs dancing, it was quite funny!
Thursday night was probably my favorite night. Annaline (I think that's right) led worship doing lots of great songs with amazing words and then Rob preached and led ministry time, part of which involved getting those who knew they were lightening conductors that night to come forward and get extra-charged then go back into the crowd. We all held hands and Ursula, of course a lightening conductor, ended up miraculously right next to us though she had been way up in front originally. She didn't even know at first because she didn't have her glasses on. Anyway, Lydia and I were laughing hysterically, I was crying I was laughing so hard and Lydia was in a heap on the floor half the time. She kept trying to get up though, she was a little nervous of getting hurt down there, probably with good reason haha! Anyway, it was just fun and a delicious manifest presence of God with us.
Then Rob called down pastors/leaders and wives, at which point Ursula told me to go down so I did. The City Church ministry team was wonderful, so gentle and loving and of course powerful in ministry. The atmosphere became so quiet, peaceful and full of God love and Rob became this totally gentle father to us. I'm still blown away by him, and how much we love him without having to idolize him. Don't know if that makes sense, it's just that since coming into grace I love how I can love and respect and honor people without putting them on a pedestal or having to agree with them 100%. I think it's so freeing. We can let people be people and love them and realize we're all different and that's good for us!
Also, backing up a bit, Thursday afternoon we got to spend with some of the people from Grace Revolution, which was another major highlight. Ryan came with us, and we got to meet Wayne Duncan, Tony Yu, and many others. Meeting Wayno was not dissappointing! He and Ryan were mocking our supposed accents a bit though, talk about pots calling kettles black! They can't even distinguish between 'pill' 'pole' 'pull' etc...all just sounds the same, we had the same issue with Bertie, but in grace we overlook such things.
I guess I'll continue this in another post since it seems to be getting long! There will probably actually be two more posts, one to finish telling about the conference and time we got to spend with Urs, and another to sum up what I took away from the whole thing.
Showing posts with label city church international. Show all posts
Showing posts with label city church international. Show all posts
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Hong Kong Trip Part 3
I just posted the conclusion to the story of our trip to City Church International in Hong Kong over at the Rob Rufus blog, so I'm putting it up over here too, mostly just so it's here in my life journal...
Ok, I'm seriously late in posting this, but in my defense we've moved and had my sister's wedding so we've been a little busy. I left off just before the final meeting on Monday night with the Mills and Kaye Beyer.
We had a great worship time again, similar to Sunday night, and then Kaye got up to basically share her testimony. Her husband had died just 6 months before, and they had been in ministry together for something like 40 years, which is amazing! Some people had a difficult time hearing her as she was somewhat quiet and not at all dramatic, but this was one of my favorite parts of the conference. I love hearing testimonies and grew up reading biographies of famous men and women of God. She passed around some pictures of miraculous manifestations (such as some money with a note from God to her grand daughter on it) and was also wearing a huge ring with a beautiful green stone in it that God dropped at her feet. It was very sparkly, and green being my favorite colour I believe he should give me one too (though I'd probably have it set in a crown instead).
She shared about the joy that comes from knowing God in the midst of difficult times, and at the end invited people who lacked joy to come for prayer. She looked a bit shocked when nearly everyone came forward! . .(A lady sitting next to us from the church explained that depression is a serious problem in Hong Kong...) There were only a few of us still sitting in our seats, and soon we were busy moving chairs out of the way as many started falling to the floor. Kaye and Janet Mills moved around the room praying and laying hands on people in such a quiet and gently manner it was rather surprising the violent effects of their ministry! Josh was still manning the keyboard and singing, and we were happily taking it all in.
When Rob recovered and got up off the floor hehe, he started calling certain visiting people forward to be prayed for. He called some people from a church in China (I think?) up, and then he called us up. Janet was excited that we were church planting in Canada, asked us where and she answered that the Maritimes need churches. Neither Aaron or I remember another word she or Kaye said after that! She then very gently placed her hands on Aaron's face and he was out like a light, then she put her hands on my face and it was so glorious, God's loving joyful presence just wrapped me in light. I didn't fall or anything, I think was struggling to remain standing because I didn't want Janet to stop! Ahhh, but she did...
And then Rob was dealing with something demonic in someone and I was glad I didn't miss it. I had noticed earlier that someone was struggling with a demonic issue and hoped it would get dealt with, so I was intrigued to be able to be up close to see how Rob handled it. I always pay close attention whenever I'm close to someone experienced in casting out demons, which unfortunately doesn't happen very often. This is one area of ministry I'm dying to jump into more, and one thing I really have more than enough faith to make up for the lack of experience.
That night we stayed at the YWCA where the church met, and the next day a lady (Marika)from the church picked us up and drove us to nicer accommodations that she and her husband had arranged. She was so kind and generous and gave us lots of information about the city. That night we had quite an adventure getting lost with a taxi driver who spoke no English, due in large part to us being hungry at midnight for a real meal for most of the time we were there, 12 hour time difference! I think I won't get into that! Suffice it to say, God got us back to our room!
So Tuesday and Wednesday of our trip involved sightseeing and lots of walking. The weather was great, we went to the Peak (where we waved to the Mills and Kaye Beyer out the tram window!) and got to see all the great views. And we did lots of wandering around the shops and ate mysterious Chinese food.
On Thursday Marika picked us up again and took us over to the Rufus' house where we chatted with Rob and Glenda and then ate together with a few people from the worship team who were there early for the prayer meeting that night. The prayer meeting was really great and intense...and loud! There were lots of prophetic words and testimonies, and Rob asked Aaron and I to share a couple of things we'd shared with him as well, just some encouragement God had given us for the church. We got to meet even more people that night and everyone was so easy to talk to. If we weren't so obviously called to be planting a church here in Canada, I think it would be extremely tempting to move to Hong Kong! We then went back to Ryan and Kylie's house for the night as we were flying out early the next morning. We stayed up talking again, and the next morning as we stood by the taxi about to get in , I felt such a wave of sadness wash over me. I already missed them!
One little testimony here: We needed taxi money to get to the airport on Friday morning and I wasn't sure how much we'd need, I didn't think we had enough Hong Kong dollars left. We could have gone to a bank and gotten some more out but that would have been inconvenient and I didn't want to exchange more money than we needed, so I just asked God on Thursday to provide the money we needed. Well, at the prayer meeting, a lady from the church came up and slipped me some money, she said it should be enough for the taxi. Wow, God doesn't waste any time! As we were leaving, Rob and Glenda gave us money for the taxi as well, we told them we didn't need it anymore but they said to get a nice breakfast at the airport. It wasn't too long before Ryan and Kylie gave us some money for the taxi, also insisting we keep it when we told them we had more than enough! OK God, you've made your point, you're pretty generous, according to your riches in glory, not my need!
Anyway, we had a good flight back and safe trip home though it took me quite some time to readjust to the proper time zone. Thanks again to Dan for your faith and generosity and investing in kingdom building in Canada!
Ok, I'm seriously late in posting this, but in my defense we've moved and had my sister's wedding so we've been a little busy. I left off just before the final meeting on Monday night with the Mills and Kaye Beyer.
We had a great worship time again, similar to Sunday night, and then Kaye got up to basically share her testimony. Her husband had died just 6 months before, and they had been in ministry together for something like 40 years, which is amazing! Some people had a difficult time hearing her as she was somewhat quiet and not at all dramatic, but this was one of my favorite parts of the conference. I love hearing testimonies and grew up reading biographies of famous men and women of God. She passed around some pictures of miraculous manifestations (such as some money with a note from God to her grand daughter on it) and was also wearing a huge ring with a beautiful green stone in it that God dropped at her feet. It was very sparkly, and green being my favorite colour I believe he should give me one too (though I'd probably have it set in a crown instead).
She shared about the joy that comes from knowing God in the midst of difficult times, and at the end invited people who lacked joy to come for prayer. She looked a bit shocked when nearly everyone came forward! . .(A lady sitting next to us from the church explained that depression is a serious problem in Hong Kong...) There were only a few of us still sitting in our seats, and soon we were busy moving chairs out of the way as many started falling to the floor. Kaye and Janet Mills moved around the room praying and laying hands on people in such a quiet and gently manner it was rather surprising the violent effects of their ministry! Josh was still manning the keyboard and singing, and we were happily taking it all in.
When Rob recovered and got up off the floor hehe, he started calling certain visiting people forward to be prayed for. He called some people from a church in China (I think?) up, and then he called us up. Janet was excited that we were church planting in Canada, asked us where and she answered that the Maritimes need churches. Neither Aaron or I remember another word she or Kaye said after that! She then very gently placed her hands on Aaron's face and he was out like a light, then she put her hands on my face and it was so glorious, God's loving joyful presence just wrapped me in light. I didn't fall or anything, I think was struggling to remain standing because I didn't want Janet to stop! Ahhh, but she did...
And then Rob was dealing with something demonic in someone and I was glad I didn't miss it. I had noticed earlier that someone was struggling with a demonic issue and hoped it would get dealt with, so I was intrigued to be able to be up close to see how Rob handled it. I always pay close attention whenever I'm close to someone experienced in casting out demons, which unfortunately doesn't happen very often. This is one area of ministry I'm dying to jump into more, and one thing I really have more than enough faith to make up for the lack of experience.
That night we stayed at the YWCA where the church met, and the next day a lady (Marika)from the church picked us up and drove us to nicer accommodations that she and her husband had arranged. She was so kind and generous and gave us lots of information about the city. That night we had quite an adventure getting lost with a taxi driver who spoke no English, due in large part to us being hungry at midnight for a real meal for most of the time we were there, 12 hour time difference! I think I won't get into that! Suffice it to say, God got us back to our room!
So Tuesday and Wednesday of our trip involved sightseeing and lots of walking. The weather was great, we went to the Peak (where we waved to the Mills and Kaye Beyer out the tram window!) and got to see all the great views. And we did lots of wandering around the shops and ate mysterious Chinese food.
On Thursday Marika picked us up again and took us over to the Rufus' house where we chatted with Rob and Glenda and then ate together with a few people from the worship team who were there early for the prayer meeting that night. The prayer meeting was really great and intense...and loud! There were lots of prophetic words and testimonies, and Rob asked Aaron and I to share a couple of things we'd shared with him as well, just some encouragement God had given us for the church. We got to meet even more people that night and everyone was so easy to talk to. If we weren't so obviously called to be planting a church here in Canada, I think it would be extremely tempting to move to Hong Kong! We then went back to Ryan and Kylie's house for the night as we were flying out early the next morning. We stayed up talking again, and the next morning as we stood by the taxi about to get in , I felt such a wave of sadness wash over me. I already missed them!
One little testimony here: We needed taxi money to get to the airport on Friday morning and I wasn't sure how much we'd need, I didn't think we had enough Hong Kong dollars left. We could have gone to a bank and gotten some more out but that would have been inconvenient and I didn't want to exchange more money than we needed, so I just asked God on Thursday to provide the money we needed. Well, at the prayer meeting, a lady from the church came up and slipped me some money, she said it should be enough for the taxi. Wow, God doesn't waste any time! As we were leaving, Rob and Glenda gave us money for the taxi as well, we told them we didn't need it anymore but they said to get a nice breakfast at the airport. It wasn't too long before Ryan and Kylie gave us some money for the taxi, also insisting we keep it when we told them we had more than enough! OK God, you've made your point, you're pretty generous, according to your riches in glory, not my need!
Anyway, we had a good flight back and safe trip home though it took me quite some time to readjust to the proper time zone. Thanks again to Dan for your faith and generosity and investing in kingdom building in Canada!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Our Trip to Hong Kong, Part 1
This is a slightly edited version of what I've posted over at the Rob Rufus Blog. I'll be posting on both blogs pretty much the same things with slight alterations where appropriate...
I guess we've held everyone in suspense long enough. Well, my husband Aaron and I just got back a few days ago from visiting City Church International in Hong Kong, and we're slowly recovering from the 12 hour time difference and an extremely long trip in a relatively short space of time.
Our trip began on the morning of April 17th, when we set out by car with our 3 children to drive south for about 14 hours.
We met up with Aaron's parents in New Jersey and spent the night in a hotel there (on them) and set out from there without children for JFK airport in New York City. Everything went quite smoothly once we finally found a suitable place to park our car and we were flying out by late afternoon on a 16 hour flight over the icy north. We arrived on the following evening and after finally getting through customs/immigration and hunting down our luggage we headed out to be welcomed by Ryan Rufus, who had been waiting patiently. We all recognized each other right away, which was good haha, and then he drove us to their apartment where we stayed up talking with him and Kylie for a couple hours before getting some sleep.
We were at home right away, and fell in love with the Ryan and Kylie and their 3 beautiful daughters. It was such a great time being with people who have such a similar understanding of grace, and I guess it makes sense since we've been listening to MP3's from the website for more than a year and a half. We really felt like they were long lost friends, they were so easy to be with. They also have an amazing testimony of how God brought them out of legalistic religious control into the freedom of the Gospel of Grace! And I think Aaron appreciated Ryan's late night sugar stash as well...
In the morning we piled into the car with Kylie and the girls to head to church. It was so weird to walk into the room where they meet and start being introduced to people with familiar names and voices, having heard them pray, or give prophetic words, or sing, or testify at some point over the time we've been listening! I can honestly say we were just as excited to meet these people as anyone else, part of the reason we decided not to try for the Grace and Glory conference in Sydney. We were there for the prayer time before the service, and Glenda came over to welcome us just as prayer was starting.
I was not prepared for how beautiful she is in person! She's certainly pretty in pictures I've seen but in real life there is a dynamic godly beauty that I have always been taught to strive for in certain past legalistic contexts, but didn't actually exist there. I guess I've mostly seen weak counterfeits of this kind of beauty, the kind that leave you feeling condemned and ashamed of how far you are from the 'standard', so it was refreshing to meet a real woman, ha!, real women (yes, there are more of these lovely ladies in the church, they are not an exclusive elite set of superwomen!) living in the grace of God and glowing with the unfading glory of the New Covenant. It's funny what seemingly small things make big impressions on me!
During the prayer time, there were 2 prophetic words about canaries (I believe one is on the MP3 for that Sunday), which I only mention because we'd been telling Kylie the story of how my sister rescued a canary from the streets of Toronto a couple of years ago and still has him. It was a little amusing that canaries came up in the prayer time!
Rob came over and met us before things got started as well. To me, one of the most surprising things about the whole experience was my complete lack of fear or nervousness. Normally I would be shaky and sweaty at the thought of meeting so many new people, especially people I admire so much. In the past growing up in the church I always put men/women in leadership up on pedestals in some strange way, so I was encouraged that maybe finally I'm growing up, learning that there really really is no hierarchy in the church!
This really is a great answer to something I've been praying about for a long time, the fear of man I lived under for my whole life could be debilitating at times (a speech in school would have me crying for hours before or after, and I actually missed up to 40 school days a year during high school as I would make myself sick with worrying that my teachers hated me). Though God has been setting me free a little at a time over the past years, this message of grace has brought a freedom I didn't even know was possible. Strangely, I think this is one of the more significant things I'm walking away with from this whole experience. We even got up in front of the church to give a brief testimony of sorts, and I actually spoke a couple sentences as well, seriously, you can listen, my voice wasn't shaking, that's a miracle! But there's more!
(I like to call this "Rob Dylan")
Rob preached an amazing and intense prophetic message (There's a Flood of Glory Coming, transcribed by Dan over on the Rob Rufus Blog)complete with performance of a Bob Dylan song. We were sitting in the front row and it was almost too much for me at times, and I'm a pretty intense person myself. What I mean by too much is that I couldn't really take it all in at once, we still have to go back and listen to it again. So glad Dan transcribed it because I don't think I would even know where to begin with note taking! It was just so good to be there, though a bit like a dream, everything happened so fast. We got to meet a lot of great people afterward as well before heading back to Ryan and Kylie's.
TO BE CONTINUED....
To listen to the message click here and scroll down to April 13th
I guess we've held everyone in suspense long enough. Well, my husband Aaron and I just got back a few days ago from visiting City Church International in Hong Kong, and we're slowly recovering from the 12 hour time difference and an extremely long trip in a relatively short space of time.
Our trip began on the morning of April 17th, when we set out by car with our 3 children to drive south for about 14 hours.
We met up with Aaron's parents in New Jersey and spent the night in a hotel there (on them) and set out from there without children for JFK airport in New York City. Everything went quite smoothly once we finally found a suitable place to park our car and we were flying out by late afternoon on a 16 hour flight over the icy north. We arrived on the following evening and after finally getting through customs/immigration and hunting down our luggage we headed out to be welcomed by Ryan Rufus, who had been waiting patiently. We all recognized each other right away, which was good haha, and then he drove us to their apartment where we stayed up talking with him and Kylie for a couple hours before getting some sleep. We were at home right away, and fell in love with the Ryan and Kylie and their 3 beautiful daughters. It was such a great time being with people who have such a similar understanding of grace, and I guess it makes sense since we've been listening to MP3's from the website for more than a year and a half. We really felt like they were long lost friends, they were so easy to be with. They also have an amazing testimony of how God brought them out of legalistic religious control into the freedom of the Gospel of Grace! And I think Aaron appreciated Ryan's late night sugar stash as well...
In the morning we piled into the car with Kylie and the girls to head to church. It was so weird to walk into the room where they meet and start being introduced to people with familiar names and voices, having heard them pray, or give prophetic words, or sing, or testify at some point over the time we've been listening! I can honestly say we were just as excited to meet these people as anyone else, part of the reason we decided not to try for the Grace and Glory conference in Sydney. We were there for the prayer time before the service, and Glenda came over to welcome us just as prayer was starting.
I was not prepared for how beautiful she is in person! She's certainly pretty in pictures I've seen but in real life there is a dynamic godly beauty that I have always been taught to strive for in certain past legalistic contexts, but didn't actually exist there. I guess I've mostly seen weak counterfeits of this kind of beauty, the kind that leave you feeling condemned and ashamed of how far you are from the 'standard', so it was refreshing to meet a real woman, ha!, real women (yes, there are more of these lovely ladies in the church, they are not an exclusive elite set of superwomen!) living in the grace of God and glowing with the unfading glory of the New Covenant. It's funny what seemingly small things make big impressions on me!
During the prayer time, there were 2 prophetic words about canaries (I believe one is on the MP3 for that Sunday), which I only mention because we'd been telling Kylie the story of how my sister rescued a canary from the streets of Toronto a couple of years ago and still has him. It was a little amusing that canaries came up in the prayer time!
Rob came over and met us before things got started as well. To me, one of the most surprising things about the whole experience was my complete lack of fear or nervousness. Normally I would be shaky and sweaty at the thought of meeting so many new people, especially people I admire so much. In the past growing up in the church I always put men/women in leadership up on pedestals in some strange way, so I was encouraged that maybe finally I'm growing up, learning that there really really is no hierarchy in the church!
This really is a great answer to something I've been praying about for a long time, the fear of man I lived under for my whole life could be debilitating at times (a speech in school would have me crying for hours before or after, and I actually missed up to 40 school days a year during high school as I would make myself sick with worrying that my teachers hated me). Though God has been setting me free a little at a time over the past years, this message of grace has brought a freedom I didn't even know was possible. Strangely, I think this is one of the more significant things I'm walking away with from this whole experience. We even got up in front of the church to give a brief testimony of sorts, and I actually spoke a couple sentences as well, seriously, you can listen, my voice wasn't shaking, that's a miracle! But there's more!
(I like to call this "Rob Dylan")
Rob preached an amazing and intense prophetic message (There's a Flood of Glory Coming, transcribed by Dan over on the Rob Rufus Blog)complete with performance of a Bob Dylan song. We were sitting in the front row and it was almost too much for me at times, and I'm a pretty intense person myself. What I mean by too much is that I couldn't really take it all in at once, we still have to go back and listen to it again. So glad Dan transcribed it because I don't think I would even know where to begin with note taking! It was just so good to be there, though a bit like a dream, everything happened so fast. We got to meet a lot of great people afterward as well before heading back to Ryan and Kylie's.
TO BE CONTINUED....
To listen to the message click here and scroll down to April 13th
Monday, April 07, 2008
City Church International, Hong Kong !!!!!!!!!!!!
O.K., I've been sitting on this one for quite some time and I have to spill the beans now, with Dan's permission. We are leaving on Thursday for a very long trip, driving from Moncton to Newark NJ with our 3 kids (about 12 hrs driving),spending the night there with Aaron's parents who will be taking the kids to their place while we're gone, and then driving to JFK in New York City to fly out on Friday to arrive the following day in HONG KONG. That's right, I believe this will be my 3rd time on a plane... so you can see I haven't done much travelling, well, I've done a lot of driving!
Anyway, of course we'll be going to City Church International on Sunday morning, and Joshua and Janet Mills will be there on Sunday and Monday night. Then we'll hit a prayer meeting on Thursday night and have high hopes of getting to spend a little time with Rob and Glenda Rufus, and Ryan and Kylie Rufus, people who of course we've never met but have been listening to over the internet, talked to on the phone a little, and exchanged a few e-mails along the way. I hope they can handle me, ha! I'm hoping for many things actually!
If you recall I mentioned not too long ago that we don't really have any money so you're probably wondering how we can afford a trip like this. Maybe you're not wondering but I'm going to assume you are anyway. Well, we still don't , not to say God is not providing basics right now...Aaron's job is going well and sales are beginning to pick up, but we certainly don't have money for something like this!
So going back to the beginning, a few months ago Aaron and I had the following conversation (witnessed by my mother):
Julie: We haven't gone away without the kids for more than a few days since I was pregnant with Eva (our first child, now 7)
Aaron: Well we won't be going anywhere for a long time either
Julie: No, except Hong Kong
Aaron: We're not going to Hong Kong, we can't even afford a house. It's impossible (obviously in Aaron's defense he said this before the Invading the Impossible series...haha)
Julie: Well, you can stay here if you want but I'm going to Hong Kong this year.
Aaron: We don't have any money.
Julie: Well, I'm going into heaven and taking what I need, but I'm going this year whether you want to or not! ( notice the quiet gentle submissive spirit here, I said this very very impulsively without any thought whatsoever...)
Well, that's the general idea of how it happened anyway...Of course this was not a bad conversation, I can see how it might read as a fight or disagreement but it really wasn't. These conversations are not really unusual and neither of us thought much about it.
That night I couldn't sleep and I was annoyed and finally got up and went out to the computer to check my e-mail. To my great surprise, there was an e-mail from Dan (a very good friend of ours who we met through blogging, we've never actually met!) Now considering the timing of all this, I do not think this was a coincidence. Here's a bit of the e-mail:
That is just a little bit of it. I sat and read and re-read that e-mail crying, I couldn't believe it! There was no hope of sleeping after that! It was the beginning of corresponding back and forth figuring out what God was doing in all of this. Obviously, we didn't go to Australia for the Grace and Glory Conference in the end of March. For various reasons, we felt God had other plans. Long story short, we're going to Hong Kong instead, in just a few days!!!
Dan has been such a blessing to us, not just because of money, but because he's forever sending us encouraging words and prophecies and we are so aware of his prayers for us. He is a true brother and we know some day we'll actually get to meet him! It will be an amazing meeting for sure. He is so gifted in writing and editing material in a way that makes it accessible to many many people, and making it all available for free, he is definitely a gift from God to the church worldwide. We're so excited to watch the transformation the grace message has and is making in his life, he's truly a bold preacher of the Gospel. Thank-you thank-you Dan for being such an expression of God's grace and blessing to us! Thank-you thank-you God for your amazing lavish goodness to us!
I'm pretty excited at this point. I'll be taking pictures and notes (or Aaron will) and be sharing everything when I get back, if I don't have computer access there. Make sure to keep an eye on the Rob Rufus Grace and Glory blog as well. In theory I'm a contributor there though I've never posted yet, but this time I'll have to!
Please keep us in your prayers for a safe trip and for us to embrace God's will in everything that will be happening. I don't know if that's the best way to word that, but I think you understand what I'm trying to say. I really feel that God has promised us some significant things in all this and I can't even imagine how glorious the fulfillment of those promises might be!
Anyway, of course we'll be going to City Church International on Sunday morning, and Joshua and Janet Mills will be there on Sunday and Monday night. Then we'll hit a prayer meeting on Thursday night and have high hopes of getting to spend a little time with Rob and Glenda Rufus, and Ryan and Kylie Rufus, people who of course we've never met but have been listening to over the internet, talked to on the phone a little, and exchanged a few e-mails along the way. I hope they can handle me, ha! I'm hoping for many things actually!
If you recall I mentioned not too long ago that we don't really have any money so you're probably wondering how we can afford a trip like this. Maybe you're not wondering but I'm going to assume you are anyway. Well, we still don't , not to say God is not providing basics right now...Aaron's job is going well and sales are beginning to pick up, but we certainly don't have money for something like this!
So going back to the beginning, a few months ago Aaron and I had the following conversation (witnessed by my mother):
Julie: We haven't gone away without the kids for more than a few days since I was pregnant with Eva (our first child, now 7)
Aaron: Well we won't be going anywhere for a long time either
Julie: No, except Hong Kong
Aaron: We're not going to Hong Kong, we can't even afford a house. It's impossible (obviously in Aaron's defense he said this before the Invading the Impossible series...haha)
Julie: Well, you can stay here if you want but I'm going to Hong Kong this year.
Aaron: We don't have any money.
Julie: Well, I'm going into heaven and taking what I need, but I'm going this year whether you want to or not! ( notice the quiet gentle submissive spirit here, I said this very very impulsively without any thought whatsoever...)
Well, that's the general idea of how it happened anyway...Of course this was not a bad conversation, I can see how it might read as a fight or disagreement but it really wasn't. These conversations are not really unusual and neither of us thought much about it.
That night I couldn't sleep and I was annoyed and finally got up and went out to the computer to check my e-mail. To my great surprise, there was an e-mail from Dan (a very good friend of ours who we met through blogging, we've never actually met!) Now considering the timing of all this, I do not think this was a coincidence. Here's a bit of the e-mail:
...You may have noticed from the Rob Rufus website that the next "Glory and Grace Conference" has been announced! Alas, alas it is at the end of March and so far too soon for me to be able to make it.
Would you two be able to go for the week if it was not a question of money? Can you free up the time to make sure you are there?
This isn't to be a loan or anything like that. It's a gift. I want you to be at that conference so it can be your turn to receive the impartation of God's glory. I think it's essential beyond words for the spreading of the glory in Canada. You won't "owe" me anything ...
That is just a little bit of it. I sat and read and re-read that e-mail crying, I couldn't believe it! There was no hope of sleeping after that! It was the beginning of corresponding back and forth figuring out what God was doing in all of this. Obviously, we didn't go to Australia for the Grace and Glory Conference in the end of March. For various reasons, we felt God had other plans. Long story short, we're going to Hong Kong instead, in just a few days!!!
Dan has been such a blessing to us, not just because of money, but because he's forever sending us encouraging words and prophecies and we are so aware of his prayers for us. He is a true brother and we know some day we'll actually get to meet him! It will be an amazing meeting for sure. He is so gifted in writing and editing material in a way that makes it accessible to many many people, and making it all available for free, he is definitely a gift from God to the church worldwide. We're so excited to watch the transformation the grace message has and is making in his life, he's truly a bold preacher of the Gospel. Thank-you thank-you Dan for being such an expression of God's grace and blessing to us! Thank-you thank-you God for your amazing lavish goodness to us!
I'm pretty excited at this point. I'll be taking pictures and notes (or Aaron will) and be sharing everything when I get back, if I don't have computer access there. Make sure to keep an eye on the Rob Rufus Grace and Glory blog as well. In theory I'm a contributor there though I've never posted yet, but this time I'll have to!
Please keep us in your prayers for a safe trip and for us to embrace God's will in everything that will be happening. I don't know if that's the best way to word that, but I think you understand what I'm trying to say. I really feel that God has promised us some significant things in all this and I can't even imagine how glorious the fulfillment of those promises might be!
Monday, February 04, 2008
Ryan Rufus Writing Again--On Sanctification!
UPDATE: PLEASE SEE THIS POST: City Church International Hong Kong: Ryan Rufus, New Nature Publications Etc…Grace For Control and Abuse?
For those of you who've been around my blog for any length of time, you're aware that Aaron and I and many of our friends have benefitted immensely from the ministry of City Church International in Hong Kong. We've often listened to the preaching and teaching of Rob and Glenda Rufus, Ryan and Kylie Rufus, and others from their church and various other places from around the world. And you might remember me linking to a free book online at their website by Ryan Rufus called "Do Christians Still Have a Sinful Nature?", a book I still very highly recommend to anyone who hasn't read it already.
Well, in a recent mp3 from CCI, Ryan tells of a prophetic dream (Regeneration Dec. 30 2007 )he had and one thing that became clear to him was that teaching on grace
empowered sanctification was to be a major part of his ministry. I was so excited to hear that in light of some things I've been struggling through myself that I e-mailed him and asked if he'd be interested in writing anything for me to post on my blog. I got more than I hoped for! He's started writing a new book called "Sanctification by Grace" and has forwarded me a rough draft of the first chapter with permission to post as much as I like. So you're all in for a treat! Here's the first part (all emphasis mine):
For those of you who've been around my blog for any length of time, you're aware that Aaron and I and many of our friends have benefitted immensely from the ministry of City Church International in Hong Kong. We've often listened to the preaching and teaching of Rob and Glenda Rufus, Ryan and Kylie Rufus, and others from their church and various other places from around the world. And you might remember me linking to a free book online at their website by Ryan Rufus called "Do Christians Still Have a Sinful Nature?", a book I still very highly recommend to anyone who hasn't read it already.
Well, in a recent mp3 from CCI, Ryan tells of a prophetic dream (Regeneration Dec. 30 2007 )he had and one thing that became clear to him was that teaching on grace
empowered sanctification was to be a major part of his ministry. I was so excited to hear that in light of some things I've been struggling through myself that I e-mailed him and asked if he'd be interested in writing anything for me to post on my blog. I got more than I hoped for! He's started writing a new book called "Sanctification by Grace" and has forwarded me a rough draft of the first chapter with permission to post as much as I like. So you're all in for a treat! Here's the first part (all emphasis mine):Chapter 1: The trinity of man.
'I am a spirit, I live in a body and I have a soul.'
Before we talk about sanctification it's important to understand the three part nature of man because sanctification affects all three parts. If we don't understand them then we'll struggle to understand how certain scriptures apply to each part and sanctification will become confusing. You may think it's weird that I've started here, but this is foundational to understanding true sanctification, trust me. I believe this is one of the most important studies a Christian can do. Revelation on this subject will transform your life. So let's look at the trinity of man. (I'm going to take it from a real basic level so forgive me if it insults your intelligence please.)
Every human being is made up of 3 parts:
Spirit, soul and body. (scripture)
All Christians, I'm sure, are aware of their body. But many are unaware of their spirit and soul or at least the difference between them. But the word of God declares that it can divide between the two (Heb 4: 12).
Now there are also 3 realms know to man:
The physical realm, spiritual realm and the mental realm.
We all exist in these realms but how do we have access to them? Well with our bodies we access the physical realm. That happens through our 5 physical senses. Sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. With our spirits we access the spiritual realm. God is Spirit and we have been created in His likeness-spirit beings. Those who worship God must worship in 'spirit' and in truth. And with our soul or our mind we have access to the mental realm. Our mind has to do with our will, our intellect and our thoughts.
See, you are not just the hunk of flesh and bones that everyone else sees. You are much more than that. In fact that is just one part of you. And in fact that is just your earth suit. Even though it's the part that everyone knows you by, it is actually the least part of you! The most accurate and helpful way to look at this is to say:
'I am a spirit, I live in a body and I have a soul'.
You are a spirit, you live in a body and you have a soul!
You are a spirit, you live in a body, but you are not that body. It is your earth suit! If it died, you wouldn't die. The real you, which is your spirit, wouldn't die, it would go on to be with the Lord. (scripture). If you are born again then you will never die! That is your flesh may die, but you, the real you, your spirit, cannot die! It just goes instantly to be with the Lord.
Now how does salvation affect each one of those parts of us?
Salvation happened instantly in your spirit, is happening in your soul/mind and will one day happen in your body. (Scripture)
It has happened, is happening and will happen. It has happened in your spirit which is the most important thing. The fact that it happened in your spirit means that it is happening in your mind now and will happen in your body when we go to be with the Lord. It doesn't have to happen in your body and mind in order for it to happen in your spirit. It happened in your spirit first and because of that it is happening in your body and mind now.
At salvation:
-Salvation was instant in our spirit and made us alive with Christ. That's when we instantly received every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm (Eph 1). That's when our spirit was seated in heavenly places with Christ (Eph 2), hidden in Christ (Col 3), became a co-heir with Christ (Eph2). Our spirit was born again (Titus 2). Our spirit became a new creation at the point of salvation (2 Cor 5:17). Our spirits were born again.
-Nothing changed in our mind or our body. We didn't receive a new mind or a new body. It stayed exactly the same. We still have all the same memories in our minds and even the same thinking (accept for the fact that we believe in Jesus as our savior). That's why Romans 12, 2 tells us we need to renew our minds. We also still have all the same urges and appetites in our bodies. That's why Romans 12:1 tells us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. It's foolish to think that salvation changed the desires of our bodies and/or the thought processes and memories of our minds. It didn't.
Salvation changed the inner man and it's the inner man that needs to take control over the body and the mind and lead it into righteousness! It's the inner man that offers the body as a sacrifice. It's the inner man that subjects the mind to a renewing through the word of God. You can see how your inner man needs to be the one in control, otherwise your body will just naturally want to follow its appetites and your mind will continue to stay worldly and lead you into worldly thoughts and actions.
Now, God did something with your spirit/inner man- he expects you now (by that new spirit/inner man) to do something with your body and your mind.
Romans 12:1, 2
It wasn't your responsibility to do something with your spirit. That's the whole point, we couldn't. It could only be God! It was God's responsibility to do something with your inner man.
Now it's your responsibility to do something with your body and mind- not His! (Yes we surrender to Him and partner with him, but we can't give him control unless we are first in control.) That's why 'we' offer our bodies and 'we' renew our minds.
I want to talk about walking in the spirit and how we do that but first, let's talk about our heavenly eternal position and our earthly current condition:
When we were saved, what parts of us came into our eternal position and what parts of us remained in and become our current condition?
Well our spirit came into instant eternal position in Christ. (Hidden in Christ, anchored in Christ, seated with Christ, united with Christ etc). That can never be reversed or changed. If it could, it's like saying Jesus can be crucified twice which is absolutely impossible. Why? Simply because it's impossible for Jesus to die again.
Our position speaks about our spiritual position. Our spirits are with us currently now in our bodies and yet they are hidden in Christ in heavenly places as well. Try getting your mind around that! (Col 3)
Our body and our mind remained in their same condition which has become our current earthly condition. Our eternal position is not subject to change but our current condition is definitely subject to change.
Our eternal position cannot be influenced by our current condition. But our current condition can be influenced by our eternal position! That's what this whole book is about!!!
To be continued...
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