It is my desire that everyone that needs this gets a copy of it. So if you cannot afford to buy this book and you really need it, please let me know. We can find a way to get you a copy. You are blessed.

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My question then is, can we abuse this grace? Or maybe more appropriately can we take this grace for granted? To the second question I say yes. We can forget the cost of grace because we receive it freely. We can also continue to live far below God’s ideal for us because we do not recognise what has been done for us. When you do not know the value of what you have, the tendency to abuse it is greatly increased.

Am I abusing the grace of God? Am I really making use of all that God has given to me in him? These are some of the questions that I believe the Holy Spirit is posing to me these days. I believe there is so much more in God than I am making use of. As the apostle Paul urges in 2 Cor 6:1 - We must endeavor not to receive the grace of God in vain or (ignore it). I think this is another wake up call to me.

I got this call once when I was in university - I was always spending time studying scriptures and praying at the expense of studying my school materials. Needless to say, I did very poorly at school that year. The following year however, I got this wake-up call that I can tap into the grace of God to do well at school and still excel in spiritual things. Specifically I was led to spend an extra one or two hours studying my school materials after my loong meetings and bible studies. In this short period of time, I was able to understand what I was being taught in my engineering classes and I did very well in my exams.

What am I learning today? There is a need for me and for all believers to tap into the grace of God to do what needs to be done rather than thinking that what needs to be done can be neglected because we are “doing the work of God”. So I think I need to take a look at my schedule and my life and see things that I have thought I did not have time for or strength for and see how God will lead me to do them not by my strength but with his Grace.

If you are reading this, maybe you can look at your life and schedule and see if there are things that you have abandoned because you were spending more time doing ministry. Did God ask you to drop those things? Or maybe there are things that God has been asking you to take up (like me) that you think you cannot do because your plate is full. If He is asking you to do it, remember to tap into God’s strength (Grace). You will be amazed at how much God can do through a man or woman who is willing to take an extra hour every now and then to do what God has placed on their heart.

Lets not ignore the grace of God.

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Could it be that Canada is too hard? - Well it is true that humanism and secularism is quickly attempting to take over Canada, and a lot of people have become disillusioned with “the church”. However, I still believe that the power of God is still available to save the lost. I do not think that Canada is harder in any special way than other areas of the world where people are anti-Christianity, however I think that those of us sent to minister in Canada must understand the perculiarity of Canada and go to God for a strategy that will be effective in bringing in the harvest.

Is the harvest really ready? Yes of course! Jesus declared many years ago that the harvest is ready. This is the first work that the Lord did in my heart and ministry. I am convinced beyond all doubt that there is a big harvest in Canada. It does not matter what province, city or town, there is a harvest in Canada. The problem is not that the harvest is not ripe. The problem is the labourers!

So what is the problem with the labourers? - The most obvious problem is that there are not many labourers. Very few people are reaching out to the millions of people out there who are lost to the love of God. I am not talking about people not standing at the corner of the street giving out gospel tracts. There are a few of those; although they are still not enough. What about gospel campaigns? There are many of those but I believe that these impersonal methods of reaching out to people can only be as effective as the Christians are reaching out to their neighbours and colleagues in the love of Christ.

I believe the problem with us labourers is that we have focused on impersonal approaches of evangelism or witnessing and ignored the more personal methods of reaching out. We have wrongly assumed that if we stay on the street corner handing out tracts, or set up a tent or rent a hall and just preach the “undiluted word of God”, the non-Christians will rush in and get saved. Well maybe this approach has worked in the past for great evangelists like Charles Finney, DL Moody, Spurgeon, Billy Graham and more, but the more I think about our situation as a church, the more I realise that even this evangelists started out as personal workers before being launched into the ministry of mass evangelism.

What can we do now? Well the first thing is that I am so much more aware that if we are going to enjoy weekly salvations in our ministry, all of us (members of our local assembly) and all of the church nationwide must actively engage in the work of loving our neighbours and sharing the gospel message. If we all love the non-Christians around us and clearly share the gospel message with them when the opportunity arises, although this people may not get saved right away, they will eventually meet with other Christians or attend a less personal evangelistic events where they would accept Jesus as their Lord.

As a pastor, I choose to make personal evangelism my focus - By this I mean that as a church we will invest in resources geared to helping our members learn about personal/relationship evangelism, and to participate in it. I will set a personal goal to meet someone new every week and to share the love of God with them. I am not suggesting that we put an end to all other methods of evangelism, but that we add this very powerful method of reaching out to people to our strategy.

It is more expensive - Yes it is true that making friends and sharing the love of Christ with them does not cost lots of money, however it cost more time and more personal resources. I am discovering however, that although is costs more, it is also more rewarding. I am making some great friendships, praying for more people by name, learning more about my weaknesses and going to God for help. To do this work well, we must become more and more authentic as Christians. What do you know? Relationship evangelism will help you grow as a Christian than any thing that you may have done before. I am already enjoying some of its benefits and I look forward to seeing those weekly salvations in our ministry. I also look forward to seeing the joy in the eyes of some of our members who will start to see people come to faith in Christ Jesus.

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As a young Christian, I discovered that although the scriptures does not promise an easy ride all the time, it does not assure us of an escape from the results of sin in our world, it promises a victorious, joyful life. I am a strong believer in the fact that regardless of persecution, lack, trouble and challenges, a child of God can live in absolute peace and unexplainable joy.

Dear brother or sister, you do not need to live a defeated or dejected life. Provision has been made for us to live joyfully. Personally, the one thing that has given me peace is that God is infinitely wiser than I am or can ever be. This same God has committed himself to being my father and my God as long as I am committed and submissive to his love. How can one be troubled when in the hands of the most powerful, most wise and most loving being? Surely there is no room for worry or fear if only we could believe that our God is all these and that we are really in His hands.

Do you believe that God is all powerful? Do you believe that He loves you? Do you believes that He lives in you and speaks to you? Do you believe that He speaks and is speaking to you all the time? You may say yes to all these questions and find that you are still worried and afraid and feeling down? Mentally assenting to these questions does not make a difference, what matters is really being sure of these truth.

So how can I be sure of God’s Faithfulness and Love? -We are encouraged in scriptures to draw near to God and He will draw near to us. We also read that, faith comes by hearing… And so on. I find that the more time I spend meditating on and applying the word of God, the more I am able to believe in God’s Love. Here are a few pointers. You will need to figure out a way for you to spend time with your heavenly father. The first list of things will help you begin to spend some time with God and the latter list will help with personal times with God. I must remind you that it is the personal times with God that is most beneficial. However the group or corporate experiences are also indespensible.

1) Attend Fellowship meeting with other believers in a worship service so that you can learn how to worship. Watching others and sharing in coporate worship helps you to experience God’s love without really knowing a whole lot about God. This should create a desire in you: 1) For more of God’s experience  and 2) for the ability to get this fellowship with God on your own.

2) Join others to study scripture - This will help to build a foundation to build your relationship on. This will also help you to learn and be inspired to do more personal studies

3)Spend time alone talking to God, listening to God, singing to God, just staying in God’s presence. This is the key to really knowing God. Simply believe that God is with you, around you and in you and relate to him like that. Speak word to him that signify your surrender and submission and trust and ask Him to guide you. God guides us in many ways. However even before you get a leading from God, you can make up your mind that whatever God tells you to do you will do it.

4) Obey every thought that comes to your mind, that aligns with the Bible, that comes out of Love, that moves the world forward or towards God. If in doubt, share with other believers.

5) Maintain an attitude of gratitude and speak words of gratitude to God at all times. I have learnt to always say thank you Jesus. Thank your God. Thank you Holy Spirit many times in a day as the Lord reminds me of His love and goodness in my life.

The more we do these things, the more of God that we know and experience. Try these things and let me know your experience. You are blessed.

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Ten Commandments for Parents

1. My hands are small; please do not expect perfection whenever I make a bed, draw a picture, or throw a ball. My legs are short; slow down so that I can keep up with you.
2. My eyes have not seen the world as yours have; let me explore it safely; do not restrict me unnecessarily.

3. Housework will always be there; I am little only for a short time. Take time to explain things to me about this wonderful world, and do so willingly.

4. My feelings are tender; do not nag me all day long (you would not want to be nagged for your inquisitiveness). Treat me as you would like to be treated.

5. I am a special gift from God; treasure me as God intended you to do — holding me accountable for my actions, giving me guidelines to live by, and discipline me in a loving manner.

6. I need your encouragement (but not your empty praise) to grow. Go easy on the criticism; remember you can criticize the things I do without criticizing me.

7. Give me the freedom to make decisions concerning myself. Permit me to fail, so that I can learn from my mistakes. Then someday I will be prepared to make the decisions life will require of me.

8. Do not do things for me; that makes me feel that my efforts did not measure up to your expectations. I know its hard, but don’t compare me with my brother or sister.

9. Do not be afraid to leave for a weekend together. Kids need vacations from parents, and parents need vacations from kids. Besides, it’s a great way to show us kids that your marriage is something special.

10. Take me to Sunday school and church regularly, setting a good example for me to follow. I enjoy learning more about God.

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You know what? I think I am going to need lots of help too to bring in the harvest and God is already helping us to make some divine connections with some hardworking, harvest-hungry people. Wow.. this is already a great year. Stay tuned.

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John is the kind of guy you love to hate.   He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say.  When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, ‘If I were any better, I would be twins!’

He was a natural motivator.

If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, ‘I don’t get it!’

‘You can’t be a positive person all of the time.
How do you do it?’

He replied, ‘Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today.  You can choose to be in a good mood or…you can choose to be in a bad mood

I choose to be in a good mood.’

Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or…I can choose to learn from it.  I choose to learn from it.

Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or…I can point out the positive side of life.  I choose the positive side of life.

‘Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,’ I protested.

‘Yes, it is,’ he said.  ‘Life is all about choices.  When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice.  You choose how you react to situations.  You choose how people affect your mood.

You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood.  The bottom line:  It’s your choice how you live your life.’

I reflected on what he said.  Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business.  We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.

I saw him about six months after the accident.

When I asked him how he was, he replied, ‘If I were any better, I’d be twins…Wanna see my scars?’

I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

‘The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter,’ he replied.  ‘Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices:  I could choose to live or…I could choose to die.  I chose to live.’

‘Weren’t you scared?  Did you lose consciousness?’  I asked.

He continued, ‘…the paramedics were great.

They kept telling me I was going to be fine.  But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared.  In their eyes, I read ‘he’s a dead man’.  I knew I needed to take action.’

‘What did you do?’ I asked.

‘Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,’ said John.  ‘She asked if I was allergic to anything ‘Yes, I replied.’  The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply.  I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘Gravity”

Over their laughter, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live.  Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.’

He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude….I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. 

Attitude, after all, is everything.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.’  Matthew 6:34.

After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

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There are a few things I need to do to get properly settled in - I will go about them tomorrow and hopefully I will meet some people that I can invite to church or for a discussion about the gospel. My goal for this week is to settle down, get a rhythm and meet a few people - Generally - it’s to get the vibe of the city.

So far so good. God is good.

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As I entered Heaven’s door,

Not by the beauty of it all,

Nor the lights or its decor.

But it was the folks in Heaven

Who made me sputter and gasp–

The thieves, the liars, the sinners,

The alcoholics and the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade

Who swiped my lunch money twice.

Next to him was my old neighbor

Who never said anything nice.

Herb, who I always thought

Was rotting away in hell,

Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,

Looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus, ‘What’s the deal?

I would love to hear Your take.

How’d all these sinners get up here?

God must’ve made a mistake.

‘And why is everyone so quiet,

So somber - give me a clue.’

‘Hush, child,’ He said, ‘they’re all in shock.

No one thought they’d be seeing you.’

JUDGE NOT!!

Remember, Just going to church doesn’t make you a

Christian any more than standing in your garage

makes you a car.

Every saint has a PAST…

Every sinner has a FUTURE!

I wonder who writes all these stuff - I was blessed by this one.

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