JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-397 * 12 MARCH 2002 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG
IN THIS EDITION:
JN397-1. The most encouraging news of the '90s
JN397-2. Cambodia: killing fields become harvest fields
JN397-3. Why we call the church to pray
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QUOTE - "Mature Faith is flexible!" - Rick Warren
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PRAYER FOR ISRAEL - Jewish and Messianic leaders in Israel are calling a national day of prayer and fasting from March 12th 6pm to March 13th 6pm Israel time. The aim is repentance and God's divine intervention, protection and salvation for Israel at a time that is one of the most difficult in the last decades. Tom Hess of the Jerusalem House of Prayer for all Nations is calling believers to continue in heightened prayer and fasting as directed by the Holy Spirit at least until Passover ends on April 4th 2002.
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JN397-1. The most encouraging news of the '90s
The American mission agency GMI (Global Mapping) asked Patrick Johnstone, author of the recently updated prayer handbook 'Operation World', to list the seven most encouraging trends of the 1990's. This is his list:
1. Accelerated growth
In the 1990's, the Evangelical movement grew faster than ever before, according to our massive database of detailed research reaching back to the 1960's.
2. The AD2000 movement
The AD2000 movement was the most effective and best-targeted global network for promoting world mission which ever existed. It helped initiate church planting projects among unreached people groups, created synergy in the Body of Christ and was instrumental in the birth of many missions initiatives.
3. The collapse of the Iron Curtain
The collapse of the Iron Curtain and the end of the USSR created completely new opportunities for mission in Central Asia. Brother Andrew's 1984 challenge to pray for 7 years for the fall of the Iron Curtain was taken up and, to the astonishment of an unbelieving church, fulfilled.
4. Thousands of Muslims turn to Jesus
More than ever before, Muslims turned to Jesus: Northern African Berbers, Jordanians, Bosnians and Afghanis. In 1991, Brother Andrew called for ten years of prayer for the Islamic world to open to the gospel. The attack on the World Trade Center on 11th September 2001 could be a key moment for a divided Islamic world looking for an alternative belief system.
5. China's Christianity
Starting with only 4 million Christians in 1949, the Body of Christ in China grew to over 90 million in the year 2000. The development of truly indigenous forms of Christianity, despite growing persecution at the end of the 1990's, is one of the most important factors in 21st Century Christianity.
6. The astonishing and mostly undocumented growth of the church in India The official numbers (2.34% Christians in 1991) are far lower than the truth, deliberately hiding the true extent of Christianity in the nation. The true figures are certainly far more than double, and look like only the beginning. The 'untouchable' Dalits have started leaving Hinduism, which could lead to an immense growth of Indian churches.
7. Christian media's decisive contribution
Christian media have changed the faith and world view of millions. Significant examples are the Jesus Film, satellite television such as SAT7 in the Arab world, Christian radio in China and India and the explosive growth of interest in using the Internet for evangelisation and discipleship.
Source: www.gmi.org and www.operationworld.org
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JN397-2. Cambodia: killing fields become harvest fields
"Kampuchea for Christ" was founded in 1995 by Aaron Lee and his wife Randa, who survived Cambodia's Killing Fields. Pol Pot, the feared Communist dictator, took over Kampuchea in 1975 and sent the entire population to collective work camps which were nothing more than slave labour camps in which some 3 million people died in four years.
Lee was in one such camp, and on one occasion, was the next in a line of people to be executed when the guards were called away for some reason. He managed to escape into the jungle, where he met a Christian who told him about Jesus. Lee decided to follow Christ on the spot, and started leading others to Christ even while fleeing towards the Thai border. On arrival in the Thai refugee camp, he and others founded a Christian church which grew to 35,000 members in 6 months. While there, he met Randa, his future wife, who had been through similar experiences.
In 1991, they returned to Cambodia from the US to preach the gospel to their nation. They were imprisoned several times, because the Cambodian government still held a Communist/atheist ideology. However, doors opened ever wider for them. The Lees were later able to speak with Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk and Prime Minister Hun Sen. In December 1999, the Prime Minister allowed a "Jesus Millennium Celebration" in a football stadium, attended by 50,000. During the event, traditional Cambodian music and dance was used to illustrate the Gospel, with the result that 7,000 people decided to become Christians. The General Manager of the leading national television station was so impressed that he invited Lee to speak to 7 million viewers at Christmas.
"Through Lee's work, some 2,000 Christian groups have been formed in the country," according to the American support organisation Christian Aid Mission. Last year, 4,000 people decided to become Christians, of which 434 were baptised.
Source: http://www.christianaid.org and Friday Fax
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JN397-3. Why we call the church to pray
By Selwyn Hughes
Revival results in greater power and purity in the Church. But what does this mean in practical terms?
1. Self-indulgence will be broken
First, it means that long-standing habits of self-indulgence, that surrender neither to reason nor to God, will be broken when revival comes. Unconfessed sins that have been covered over for years will be brought to light. The interesting thing about the exposure of sin in times of revival is that the fear and shame which usually accompany such moments are thought of as nothing in comparison with the prospect of forgiveness and cleansing.
2. God's plans rule the day
Second, it means that the plans and strategies of the Church are thrown into upheaval and disarray. Goals and ambitions once thought to be of the utmost spiritual importance are seen to be but temporal. God's timing, God's purpose, God's plans rule the day. Some church structures may collapse when revival comes, but are then rebuilt "according to the pattern shown in the Mount" (Hebrews 8:5, AV).
3. Breaking of the will
A third result of revival is the breaking of the will. When God moves from heaven in extraordinary power, all that stands in opposition to Him may be expected to be broken and cast aside. Pastors, elders and leaders will be broken by revival. Men who have preached interesting and eloquent sermons may discover their ministry has the value of "wood, hay and stubble". Sermons and messages which seemed satisfactory enough in previous days will never do for revival. God, the Master Workman, will break the congregation, too. Men and women, who had resisted Him and His Word, now find themselves pliant and ready to do His bidding. But the breaking always leads to remaking. God not only pulls down - He builds up.
4. Holiness becomes a prime object
A fourth result of revival among the people of God is that holiness becomes the prime object of their lives. To be like Jesus often becomes the theme song of a revival. Christians are consumed with the desire to conform to Christ's image, and the principle of Romans 8:29 - "God decided that those who came to him... should become like his son" - becomes the dominating passion of their lives. The great truths of Scripture are no longer relegated to group discussions in church on a Sunday or in a midweek house group, but are lived out on a daily basis and applied in every exigency of life. Revived people are truly a holy people.
5. Burden for unbelievers
A fifth result of the revival is that Christians become greatly burdened for the souls of unbelievers. Prayer for the eternal welfare of those outside of Christ becomes a passion. Someone said that the word that is characteristic of revival is the word 'Oh'. It comes out continually in the prayers of those who agonize for the lost. "Oh God," they cry, "save those who are dying in sin." Nothing short of lasting conversions will satisfy the saints in a time of the revival. They pray that the same liberating Spirit that broke and remade them will do the same in the hearts of their friends, families, acquaintances and the people throughout the world. New converts are made without arm-twisting. No elaborate plans for follow-up are necessary as new coverts stand on their own feet from the moment of conversion.
6. Manifestation of the love of Christ
A sixth result of revival is that Christians begin to manifest the love of Christ toward on and another. Those who have borne grudges or have gossiped about other Christians go to those they have wronged and ask for their forgiveness. Maintaining a clear conscience becomes a matter of paramount importance. Those who have sinned privately make their confession to God whom they have wronged. Those who have sinned publicly find the grace and the strength to make a public confession. A watching world will look on in amazement as it sees Christians, who hitherto lived hypocritical lives, now take their faith seriously. The light that shines in a revived Church cannot be put out. It shines more and more until the perfect day.
Source: www.revivalcsa.co.za |