Let's pray that God brings us back to the basics of what Church is. Church is not a professional sport, where only professionals can play. No, church is simple, where ordinary people can do extraordinary things for God. For the first 324 years of church there were no church buildings, no professionals, no programs. The first 300 years of the New Testament Church was a holy movement of house churches, now today in many places, it has become a holy monument, a corporation of sorts.
We need to realize that church is not a building, a personality or a program. Church is a spiritual family. It is where any amount of believers gather together and are committed together to obey the commands of Jesus. Don't get me wrong, Sunday church is church, we should go to it, honor it, support it, and be committed to a local church gathering. Whether that meets in a mega church building, meets in a traditional church building, meets in a home, or meets in a park, the point is that it's not about the meeting place, but it is about the people meeting in that place.
Every church needs clear Biblical leadership. Every church when matured must have elders, deacons, and those who oversee the flock (1 Tim 3, Titus). But the key is this, church is a place where all can participate (1 Cor 14:26) and all can be part of the experience. It's about sharing life, not an hour long meeting.
The presence of God is with us. The kingdom of God is everywhere. Wherever we go we bring the presence of God with us. Where ever we go we bring the kingdom of God in power. There, as disciples are being made we can begin to gather these disciples into new churches where they give themselves to prayer, study of Scripture, fellowship and breaking of bread (Acts 2:42-47) Every new believer must have these four keys growing in their life to mature in Christ.
1. Continual Prayer
2. To Love the Word of God
3. Fellowship with other Believers
4. Evangelism as a lifestyle
I will expand more on these topics in coming days. Whether you go to a big church or small church, you need to be in a church and have a passion to make disciples that will start new churches. In many parts of the world, where persecution is a reality, underground house church movements or small gatherings of believers is the norm. These churches may only be 10-20 members each, but they are true churches, networked with other house churches to release a spontaneous expansion of the Church to all nations. We need to recognize that there are many different wineskins of church and we must learn from one another in order to strengthen the Body of Christ worldwide.
Whatever church you go to, remember, it's not about going to church it's about being the church. When we have this mentality we can begin to be like Jesus and bring the kingdom of God to every place we go and shine as lights in the darkness.
(Baptizing my boy Vanness in my backyard pool. Much love Vdubb, I'm so proud of your passion to know Christ bro!)
I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me -- the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. Acts 20:24
The last 90 days have been unexplainable. I would share more, but the reality is that I can't because of the nature of the occurrences. One thing I do want to point out is this...we were all made to be on adventure with God.
As human beings, we are made to live for adventure. Without adventure, our hearts die, become dull, and we lose heart. God is the most interesting person I have ever met. I feel like my whole life has been an episode of 24, simply because I chose to lose my life instead of trying to save it. It's funny to me that Christians would try to save their lives and not trust God. That is the most ridiculous choice any person could ever make. Jesus said clearly, lose your life and you will save it, save your life and you will lose it, what good is it to gain the whole world but forfeit your own soul? The true path to freedom is to lose it all, that is, lose yourself to the things of this world and every hold that this world has upon your heart. When you think your happiness comes from owning the things of this world, you are fooled, because that is when the world has owned you. We try to hold on to our dreams, our relationships, our money, our assets, our titles and positions, our possessions and pleasures, not realizing those very things we hold on to are the very things that have enslaved us and kept our hearts from truly being alive. You find yourself when you lose yourself. Don't be owned by any man or woman, but God Himself. I have nothing to lose, cause I don't own anything anyways. I'm a dead man walking, but fully alive. My life is in His hands and whatever He gives me it's a privilege, an honor, a blessing, a grace that gives me the chance to know Him more and make Him known. If you are still holding onto your life it's about time to lose it. You want freedom? You want to live the adventure you were born to live for? Then lose your fears, lose yourself and lose it all, cause there in that place you'll find what you've always been looking for.
Yes, even lose the one you love, meaning this, I can love a girl, but I can't have her. She's not mine, she belongs to the Lord. God can give her to me as much as He can take her away. I'm just a steward of the things He gives me. I'm saying this because so many of my friends seem to want to hold on to that girl, to that boy, to that relationship as if they owned it (note: I am not talking about marriage, I'm talking about friends who are in dating relationships). Don't try to own anything or it will own you. Be good stewards, always with a heart of surrender and you will be of good faith and walk in infinite peace. In time, God will lead you to the one He has prepared for you in marriage covenant. Be of good courage!
In the last 90 days for some crazy reason, God has sent me as a missionary to take on the mountain of media and entertainment. People think Hollywood is the pit of hell, a Babylon of sorts, and in many ways it is. Yet, this is exactly where God wants His people to shine. It's in the darkest place that God's light can shine the brightest. I've been sent like Philip the evangelist to Ethiopian eunuchs all across Hollywood and the Asia entertainment world to do one thing, feed the hungry with the saving power of the Gospel. I've seen celebrity after celebrity, come to Christ through prophetic evangelism encounters, everyone of them are so hungry for true love, to be loved not for their fame and fortune, but to be loved for who they were created to be. To be loved as sons and daughters of God. It does not matter if you are famous or if you are homeless, everyone is hungry for one thing, unconditional love. Most of these celebrities who have come to Christ in the last months would never step into a church service, but each of them would like to know Jesus. Interesting, Jesus never invited anyone to a church service, rather, He brought himself, the very presence of almighty God to them. Whether that is on the street, in a club, in a hotel suite, in a corporate high rise, in a restaurant, in a home or in a dark alley, nothing can separate us from the love of God that is everywhere, so near to each of us if we would just open our hearts to Him. So I've started a few new beginnings of churches in the last 90 days in the most unlikely of places, in Hollywood, on the Internet, in friends homes, in recording studios, in hotel rooms and the funnest privilege has been making new disciples on my blackberry messenger. I can explain more later...God is everywhere, in you, with you and with them. Be Jesus where ever you go. Love all you can, do good to all you can, give all you can, bless everyone you can, show everyone you have the way, the truth and the life they have been searching for all their lives and you will begin to experience life's greatest adventure...the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is our desire for our onething conferences to act as a catalyst that would provoke young adults into a greater reality of who God is. It is from the seedbed of night and day prayer that we call this generation to a wholehearted pursuit of God, challenging them to seek the Lord with lives of prayer, fasting and fulfilling the Great Commission.
onething Asian American is a clarion call to emerging young Asians who have a passion to reach Asia and have committed to a wholehearted pursuit of God and a pursuit of their destiny in God.
We believe God is raising up a generation who have a unique calling that intersects with Asia and back to Jerusalem. We will be praying and releasing a vision of Asia's destiny in the end times and your part to play in it!
Four years ago, the Holy Spirit spoke strongly to my heart, "Focus your preaching to spirit filled mandarin speaking churches outside of mainland China, for out of these churches I will raise up a mighty Asian youth army to finish the Great Commission." Later on, through further revelation the Holy Spirit revealed to me the key to fulfilling this word would be through sending Asian student and young adult missionaries into East Asia universities and urban cities to make disciples, plant simple churches to transform East Asia and bring the Gospel along the silk-road back to Jerusalem. Since releasing this vision and challenge to date, we have seen over 3,500 students make 2 year commitments to "GO" sometime in the next 10 years. Glory to God!
This April 17-19, the International House of Prayer is hosting the first onething Asian American conference at the Glory Vision Center in downtown Los Angeles, California. The vision for these onething conferences have been to act as a catalyst that would provoke young adults into pursuing God whole heartedly with lives of prayer, fasting and fulfilling the Great Commission. This particular onething is targeted to young Asians who have committed to a wholehearted pursuit of God. It is our hope to call them into a radical lifestyle of following Jesus and re-envisioning them for their role in bringing the gospel to the nations. We want to release a vision of their role as bearers of the gospel to East Asia and back to Jerusalem!
For all of you reading this blog post I would be deeply encouraged if you could get the word out and network with other Asian American student and young adult ministries about this strategic gathering. Please forward this email or your own personal letter to call forth a new generation of Asian's in North America for such a time as this! Let's make history for God. Come on!
Jesus Christ died on a rugged cross for our salvation. We do not worship that cross; we worship Christ, who is alive. Yet among all the emblems of the world, the cross is admired with awe and wonder.
The Bible says, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18, NIV).
A Message From Billy Graham
The history of the cross goes back long before Christ came. But it was the Romans who used it on a massive scale to execute people. The victim was fastened to the cross by cords, or his hands were nailed, and he was left to die. Even with the heat of the sun, the pull of the body and the torture the victim had endured before being put on the cross, sometimes it took a week to die on a cross. It was one of the most terrible, painful ways to die.
God loves us all. His love extends ... to the whole world.
But Christians started to use the cross as a symbol of Christianity. And every time the Gospel is proclaimed, those who hear the message and receive Christ as Savior come to faith by way of the cross.
Four dimensions of the cross come to my mind. First, I think about the breadth of the cross. The love of Christ is manifested in the cross to everyone. When I study the world population and see how fast it is increasing, I am staggered. Yet God loves us all. His love extends to Africa, to Asia, to Latin America, to Russia, to China, to the United States, to Canada—to the whole world. It includes you, whoever you are, whatever your religion, even if you have no religion. God says from the cross, "I love you."
Then there is the length of the cross. It has no measure. It extends from eternity to eternity, from everlasting to everlasting. When Noah built the Ark, it was 450 feet long. When Solomon built the Temple, it was 60 cubits long. If you build a shed for garden tools, you can measure the lumber with a tape measure. But how can you measure God's love for us on the cross?
The Bible says that God's love surpasses knowledge.
The Bible says that God's love surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:19). There is no way that our finite minds can even begin to understand the love God had for us when He gave His Son on the cross to die for us, because you and I deserve death. We deserve judgment and hell.
Then I think of the height of the cross—it extends to the throne of God. It doesn't matter how high Heaven is. Through the cross, God draws all people to Himself. But you have to make a decision about Jesus Christ.
And I think about the depth of God's love for us on the cross. You can fall into the pit of sin and degradation. You can live like an animal. You can be a murderer, a rapist. But you can't get beyond the love of God. The cross covers to the very gates of hell. How deep is God's love? The Bible says, "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" (Romans 11:33). It can draw every sinner up to the exalted height of Heaven. Jesus said, "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself" (John 12:32).
Think of the cross for a moment. Think of Christ's suffering for you and for me. It's said that Jesus endured five kinds of wounds: Concussion, when they beat Him on the head; laceration, when they bared His back, took long leather whips with steel pellets on the end and beat Him until He was bleeding from head to toe; penetration, when they crushed that crown of thorns on His brow; perforation, when they drove the nails through His hands and feet; and incision, when they put the spear in His side.
Think of Christ's suffering for you.
Those nails through His hands and feet were driven by you and me and all the peoples of the world. We all had a part in the death of Christ because of our sins. Our sins put Him on the cross—and you participated.
You will never understand the Bible, you will never understand the death of Christ on the cross, until you understand that God is a holy and righteous and pure God. He cannot even look upon evil.
In that terrible time of the agony of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, a shadow came between God the Father and God the Son. God cannot look upon sin, and in that moment He was laying your sins and mine on Christ.
He who knew no sin was made to be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). That means that He had never known sin, never told a lie, never had an evil thought, never had any greed or lust. But all of the filth and dirt from your life and my life descended on Him. None of us will ever understand the mystery of that moment. It was God's great love for each of us that allowed His Son to take that suffering.
He who knew no sin was made to be sin for us.
You and I have sinned against God. We have broken His laws. God told Adam that if he broke God's law, he would surely die (Genesis 2:17). But Adam and Eve broke His law.
They sinned. We have all deliberately rebelled against God. God would not be God, He wouldn't be just and righteous and holy, if He came along and patted us on the back and said, "You're forgiven." We either had to die for our own sins, or somebody who was qualified had to die for us. That Person who was qualified was Jesus Christ, and He volunteered to do it. He died in our place. People will do almost anything to get rid of their guilt. The place to get rid of guilt is at the cross. Jesus came to die. On the cross He said, "It is finished" (John 19:30).
God had given Jesus a work to do, and in the Gospel of John we read that Jesus said, "I have finished the work which You have given Me to do" (John 17:4). We wonder why He didn't feed everybody and heal everybody. He could have done it. He healed some people and fed some who were hungry, and He did that out of compassion. But His real work was the cross; there He was dealing with eternity.
Your body will go to the grave. Your soul, your spirit—the part of you that lives forever—will live on. Where will you spend eternity? Heaven or hell? That will be decided by what you do about the cross, because from the cross Christ is asking you to repent of your sin and receive Him as your Lord and Savior.
From the cross, Jesus reached out by His death and rescued us.
On the cross Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit" (Luke 23:46). They did not take His life from Him; He laid it down voluntarily. He gave up His Spirit to God the Father. And in saying this, He conferred upon every one of us the possibility of the gift of eternal life. You can have eternal life, too. Jesus' invitation is to Heaven.
We were lost, confused, without purpose or meaning in life, without assurance of a future life. But from the cross Jesus reached out by His death and rescued us. We can say to Him today, "Lord," "Savior." Are you sure that He is your Lord and your Savior? Thousands of people attend church, but they are not sure that they have committed their lives to Christ.
The crowd at the cross was shouting, "Save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross" (Matthew 27:40). Others were saying, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save" (Matthew 27:42). They were mocking, jeering, laughing.
Christ was on the cross for six hours between two thieves (Luke 23:39-44). They both deserved to die, according to Roman law. But one of the thieves looked at Jesus, and he saw that Jesus was different. He must have said to himself, "He has to be the Son of God. He has to be Lord." He said, "We deserve what we are getting, but He does not—He hasn't done anything wrong." Then he turned to Jesus and said, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom" (Luke 23:42). What an act of faith!
Jesus was different.
On March 23, believers around the world will celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. I've read that this is the earliest Easter between 1913 and 2160.
by Franklin Graham
The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ sets Christianity apart from every religion of the world. No other prophet gave his life purely for the sake of sinners—not Buddha, not Confucius, not Muhammad. No one else rose from the grave, demonstrating for all time that He has power even over death.
On the original Palm Sunday, the day of Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem, crowds hailed Him like a prince about to become a king, or a politician promising them the world. They didn't understand what Jesus was talking about when He told them, "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself" (John 12:32, NIV).
Those words were still fresh in their minds on Friday, when they saw Him lifted up—nailed to a cross like the worst of criminals. Jesus became a public spectacle, complete with a mocking sign that proclaimed in three languages that this dying man was the King of the Jews.
His followers would see Jesus lifted up in even more powerful ways, first on that Sunday morning when He was raised from the grave, and then weeks later when He ascended into heaven—with a glorious promise to return someday.
It all goes back to the cross, where Jesus paid sin's penalty for you and me, so that by simply repenting of our sins and trusting in Him, we can have everlasting life with Him.
And what did Jesus say? "Today you will be with Me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). That thief will be in Heaven. Jesus forgave him by His death on the cross.
The forgiveness and the mercy of God are so far beyond our comprehension that we can hardly even talk about them.
Do you know Christ? Do you know the forgiveness of the cross and the power of Christ's resurrection? Are you forgiven? Have you received new life, resurrection life? I am asking you to make your commitment to Christ. God will help you, if you are willing.
How to Become a Christian
Do you want to know more about what it means to become a Christian? Because Christ died, your sins can be forgiven, and because He conquered death you can have eternal life. Learn more
Billy Graham
Billy Graham has preached the Gospel to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history — over 215 million people in more than 185 countries and territories. Hundreds of millions more have been reached through the various ministries of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. http://www.billygraham.org
So after 3 years of trying every possible flavor at Cold Stone's ice cream and wanting to throw up after cause it was either way too rich, too sweet, too creamy or too heart attack helpful...I finally found the perfect combination. It's so simple you will say "that's impossible, no way, I don't believe it!" I'm sorry to tell you the truth, but the best combination "EVER" at Cold Stone is.....
VANILLA BEAN + BROWNIE !!!!!!!!
It is the absolute best! I ate it 4 times in the last 10 days...maybe that's why I've been feeling a bit sick. Thank God for ice cream. Thank God for vanilla bean and brownie. It's heaven on earth, trust me, get it, eat it, you will thank me and then thank God. Good Friday! GOD IS GOOD! dis is da bomb diggy yo. word.
A Prophetic Word from our National Student Church Planting Director Erik Fish....God is about to birth a new campus church planting movement from North America across to the nations! JMA
March 17, 2008
I wanted to share a vision I had this morning while in prayer.
As I was praying, I suddenly saw what looked like oil wells buried beneath the university campuses -- many campuses. I had the sense that these oil wells were stored there from long ago and protected and preserved there by the prayers of the saints for future moves of God on the campuses and for the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
As I was praying about the vision, I heard the word “1905”.
I had no idea about what happened in 1905, but I felt like I needed to research it and start digging. I believe there were things that happened in 1905 that God would give us access to through prayer again now.
I also felt prompted to look up J. Edwin Orr. I knew he had written Campus Aflame, but I’d never read it. I began searching on the Internet for what happened in 1905. I also dug “Campus Aflame” out of a box of books. I was really encouraged by what I found about the events of 1905, and I felt it was significant and related to the vision I had this morning and prophetic for how we are to pray.
I won’t go into a lot of details here, but as you probably know, (I didn’t), 1905 was an amazing year in the history of revival. The Welsch Revival was happening and inspired revival-minded people in North America to begin praying for a move of God. Right before New Year’s 1905, a small Welsch speaking church in Pennsylvania began praying for a move of God. Revival broke out and began spreading (it’s interesting that one of the first outbreaks of revival in this period in America started in a church that didn’t speak English as it’s first language – they spoke Welsch. They were praying for what happened in their homeland to happen now in America. I believe there are parallels today to the move of God in China and Asia and Asian believers praying for and sparking a move of God in America today). Revival spread. Atlanta, New York, Kansas City, Ohio. In Michigan, it was reported that they couldn’t keep count anymore at the number of conversions. In New Jersey it was said “Pentecost was literally repeated”. In Denver, the mayor called for a day of prayer. Schools closed, businesses shut down, and 12,000 attended the prayer meeting (keep in mind the lower population of the time).
Simultaneously at different parts of the country, other leaders started telling stories about the move of God happening in Wales and began praying for a move of God. One thing that is interesting is that this revival was the first to spread through the media technology of the time – newspapers. People would hear stories and it would prompt them to pray and seek God for a move in their town. It was reported that in Atlanta, 1,000 businessmen had united to pray for revival. Throughout the U.S., businesses were agreeing to shut down at noon to allow people to attend the rapidly growing prayer meetings that were springing up around the country.
It was said that there was no greater area that the Spirit of God was poured out than on the college campus. The Chancellor at Baylor University later recalled, “That was the time so many students went to the mission field.”
The 1906 Azusa Street Revival, with signs, wonders, and miracles and signifying the beginnings of the worldwide Pentecostal revival, was largely prompted by the estimated one million conversions that happened in America in 1905. This revival spread to Chile, Brazil, Mexico, and, through the Pentecostal movement, eventually around the world.
J.Edwin Orr reported one thing that was so significant in his mind about this 1905 move of God was that there was no main evangelist – everyone was an evangelist. A key to their message was that it was a simple message of repentance. It was a message of repentance that anyone could preach. Another thing that was so significant is that the revival was unstructured. Meetings were largely informal and led by the Holy Spirit. Lastly, Orr points out that the biggest lesson from 1905 was prayer. We can’t organize revival, but we can pray to prepare for what God is going to do.
I believe there are “reserves of revival” on our campuses, like oil wells, that God wants us to tap into through prayer. I believe now is the time to begin tapping these wells of revival. I see them gushing forth. Our prayer should not be, “Lord, send revival.” I believe rather that we need to shift our focus and understand that we have been given access and granted authority to tap these wells that were placed there long ago by God through the prayers and faith of our spiritual ancestors. They have prayed and experienced revival in past moves of God and there is something buried that is waiting to be released in our day. I believe some of these reserves were placed there in 1905, and I believe it’s time to “tap” them. God wants to do something amazing in our time to pour out His Spirit on the youth, spark a spiritual awakening on campuses and send students to the nations of the world.
Two years ago God gave us a prophetic download about how He would use "Horton Hears A Who" the story book by Dr. Seuss to end abortion in America through a massive student prayer awakening on university campuses that would turn our nation back to Godh. What happened during that prophetic encounter with 70 student leaders from across the nation at UC San Diego was recorded in a prayer journal. We have since then seen 24-7 prayer movement spring up on hundreds of campuses across the USA, and now, this month in answer to the prayers we prayed for Horton Hears A Who, an actual movie has come out being released all over North America. Is this by accident or divine providence? I choose the later. It is not by chance that movies like Bella, Juno and others are all promoting a message of "pro-life" to value the life that God has created before the beginning of time. God is sending a message to our generatoin 'loud and clear' we must stand for righteousness and justice and end abortion in our generation. It will happen, it must happen, it is the will of God. End abortion Lord. Raise up the Church to adopt the unwanted children you have created. Put an end to this bloodshed of madness, and redeem a chosen generation. Pray for this movie Horton Hears a Who, that those who watch it will protect life, value life and fight for life. Read the story below and pray this prayer to be Bound4life
"Jesus, I plead your blood over my sins and the sins of my nation. God end abortion and send revival to America."
(Horton Hears A Who and it's Connection to Ending Abortion in our Generation)
Saturday (7/15/06) – Wendy Andrews from 24-7 Prayer USA based out of Kansas City was speaking in the afternoon session about the red moon rising in our generation, which is prophesied in Joel 2:28-31 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people…The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” She was speaking about these being the last days when 24/7 prayer is being unleashed in this generation of a movement of persevering and powerful pray-ers. She began to share how the Lord had revealed to her that the universities of our nation can be likened to gardens, and the very action of gardening was likened to discipling/caring for/pastoring people. The gardens are college campuses that need to be planted and cultivated in order to bring forth beauty from the land to both protect and keep the spiritual land.We see in Genesis 2:15 God’s commission to Adam and Eve to “cultivate and to keep” the garden, and in this we are commanded to watch over, to guard, to protect the land that we’re given. She shared that it is not an easy job to watch over a garden - it needs to be constantly watered and tended to. The Lord revealed to her that it is specifically through prayer that we can watch over this land on campuses that is so easily ravished by outside sources that come to steal, kill and destroy, and she called us to 24-7 prayer specifically. The Lord also revealed to her that these gardens, our universities, are given by the Father only to His sons and daughters as an inheritance: Galatians 4:7 ‘now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.’ As heirs, we are to take action by assuming our position before the Father as sons and daughters and by claiming our inheritance, keeping watch over it with prayer.
Lou Engle soon came up to join Wendy and he spoke in relation to this call for 24-hour prayer. Lou described how university campuses have become a ‘paradise lost’, and that he believes the Lord wants to reclaim the paradise that’s been lost in the gardens of our universities.The university has also become a breeding ground for humanism, which teaches that everything we need can be found on our own apart from God – and so our gardens which are actually our universities have become corrupted in a way.Lou shared that there is actually a garden on campus at UCSD, which is a literal picture of the corrupted garden of Eden. Jaeson Ma then stated the fact that the first 108 universities of America were founded on the Word of God and were established as Bible colleges to send forth missionaries. We were to reclaim the college campuses lost through our spiritual weapon of prayer. Soon Jaeson and Lou led us to Snakehead at UCSD to pray a proclamation of defeat over the enemy and the victory of our God. As we were walking over towards Snake Path to pray, there happened to be a Chicano heritage group doing a cultural heritage dance at that very moment. We literally felt an oppressive atmosphere. Deanna Sick, a student from Pt. Loma Nazarene University, asked a group member what they were doing and what it was about, and they responded that they were celebrating a certain Chicano historian whose works were being put into the library. When asked who the dancers were, the person said they were calling on the spirits of their gods for a blessing. Jaeson Ma remarked later that when we were walking by, he saw in the spirit a bird with a golden head coming up in the haze of their incense. As he began to explain this, we realized that he was seeing the UCSD mascot, the Sungod.There is actually a statue of the Sungod on campus, and UCSD hosts an annual Sungod Festival celebrating one of the most lawless, humanistic, drunken days on campus. The Sungod statue in the middle of Sungod lawn at UCSD is exactly as Jaeson described it, an eagle with wings open wide, crowned with a golden head.
As we walked down the Snake Path, we began to pray for God to break down strongholds on UCSD and that of other campuses across the nation. Once we got to the bottom of Snake Path, someone had a word that the scales of the snake were like protection against anything trying to knock down its strongholds of darkness, and that we were to come against this force with the Holy Spirit. We began proclaiming the defeat of the enemy and the victory of Christ through the blood of the Lamb over the campus.
Wendy Andrews had the idea to parallel her message from earlier that each of us begin to plant bean seeds, which she had with her, into the ground in the garden as a physical picture of reclaiming the territory. Each seed was to represent a university in America, and we were asking God to reclaim and redeem every university in our nation, starting with 24/7 prayer.It was the idea to sacrifice the land to God, planting seeds of victory that will become trees both now and in many future generations to sprout up and overtake the campus. We were declaring not only victory but our inheritance from the Lord. He says, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.” (Ps. 2:8) Everyone took some beans and began praying and planting as we walked up the Snakepath. At the top of the garden, with hearts of prayer, Lou began to share with us the actual significance and symbolism of Snakehead and of Geisel library, which sits at the top of the garden.
The design of Snake Path was designed by an artist by the name of Alexis Smith. The 560-foot-long path lies right beneath Geisel Library and significantly, is actually a representation of the conflict between innocence and knowledge in not only the Bible but in Milton’s Paradise Lost. There is a Garden of Eden along the path at UCSD and the snake that makes up Snakepath weaves through it, leading up the hill to the library. Lou spoke about a 15-year-old girl who had a prophetic dream about seeing ahouse, with “The Whos” written over it like a banner.She walked up to the attic of a house and found a particular series of 7 ancient books that are going to be important for the future. This series was Dr. Seuss’ children’s novels. Geisel Library actually has stored in it the collection of all but one of Dr. Seuss’ original books. The library is named after Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel), after his widow donated money to the fund. Dr. Seuss is known as the author for many children’s book stories and is author of one story in particular, called “Horton Hears a Who!” The book itself has high spiritual significance to Lou and the Justice House of Prayer in WashingtonD.C. regarding anti-abortion issues, though we cannot know whether the author himself meant to include unborn babies in his story on defending the defenseless. In “Horton Hears a Who!”, Horton the elephant, who possesses huge sensitive ears, hears the cry of the small Whos living on a clover leaf in Whoville.The sour kangaroos and other animals are trying to do away with the Whos, thinking they don’t think exist because they can’t be seen. Throughout the tale, Horton expends great energy in saving the Whos and he says, “A person’s a person no matter how small.” In the end, Horton gets the Whos to join their voices to each other and cry out so that the kangaroos hear them and let them live.One Who is found who is shirking his duty and not joining in - it is the smallest of them all, and when he finally counts his voice and joins in, he saves the whole town of Whoville. Lou reminded us that it is our job to pray for even the littlest to have a voice in order to be heard because it is through prayer and the voice of the little ones that breakthrough in ending abortion would come. The girl who had the prophetic dream is now writing a book for young children with an anti-abortion theme to it. Symbolically, Lou Engle pointed out that Snakehead (the top of Snake Path) points toward the statue of Dr. Suess, suggesting a spiritual battle between the force of a university’s stronghold of death humanistic ideology versus Theodore Geisel and all that represents life.
The library was physically constructed and symbolically represents the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil – it represents false ideologies and false knowledge sprouting from universities nationwide, feeding unhealthiness to the mentality of our nation. Symbolically, the very same month that the second brick-sized piece of cement fell off Geisel Library (November 5, 2005) was the month that the U.S. Supreme Court began to fall apart in Washington D.C. (November 28, 2005 CNN.com). The first brick-sized piece of concrete fell off Geisel Library a year prior on November 8, 2004. At the U.S. Supreme Court, a chunk of marble from its west pediment fell, after a prolonged period of prayer and fasting on its steps (JHOP, bound4life.com). Pertaining to both of these structures having pieces fall off, Lou made a prophetic connection of a breaking of ideological strongholds on this university and others as well.
As Lou shared about “Horton Hears a Who!”, he said that the smallest Who of them all cried out, “YOPP!” when he joined his voice in with the other Whos. Wendy recognized that to the 24-7 Prayer movement, a YOP is a Year of Prayer, and she suggested that perhaps God is calling for a Year of Prayer on college campuses in America, as the form that our collective voice will take as we cry out to God for mercy on universities.It deliberately had not been Wendy’s intention to call us to a year of prayer during the conference, but the course of events and the prompting of the Holy Spirit brought it out of her. God made it very clear that through Lou’s recounting of “Horton Hears a Who!”, the 15-year-old girl’s dream of finding the Dr. Seuss series, and Wendy’s message on seed planting that we were being called to a year of 24/7 prayer across colleges and universities, to pray fiercely for revival across college campuses. (I took out the “to end abortion worldwide” part – instead of only praying against abortion, it seemed throughout the weekend that the Lord desires a spirit of adoption to fall on college students. The part we know for sure is the revival on campuses part.)The word was proclaimed and we grasped it, praying in agreement. The plan, brought through 24/7 prayer rooms on colleges nationwide, through students zealously seeking the heart of God, is a nonstop one year plan to call for an uncompromising revolutionary college revival movement that will change history and generations to come on this earth. Jaeson prayed for new wine to be poured out when we were gathered at the top of the walkway. A girl pointed out that three thousand were saved at Pentecost and that similarly, there are approximately three thousand universities and colleges in America. We prayed into that. There was also a large emphasis and many prayers lifted up for a new student missions movement to be birthed from this gathering. Lou made a point that Daniel and his three friends were called to be set apart even among all the wise men of Babylon, and likewise, university students are being called to set their lives apart with a lifestyle of prayer and fasting and a “not blending in with society” mentality. Many declarations, praises, and prayers were lifted up to the Lord as the heavens were opened right there on top of snakehead at UCSD and we called for His glory to fall in that place.
For a few years, Jaeson had already been predicting and prophesying that God would raise up 24/7 prayer rooms at universities, to bring in simple churches and to unite leadership on campuses. The Lord, during the initial planning stages for the CTN gathering, revealed to Jaeson that the conference was to be held at UCSD. Jaeson had a prophetic dream one night where Dutch Sheets handed him a book with blank white pages in it - except for two - pages.On one end of the book, there was a picture of students with red LIFE tape covering their mouth, signifying the ending of abortion, etched into the book in black and white. The picture looked like it was a newspaper clipping that was historic. On the other end he saw sea cliffs and mighty ocean waves crashing into the sea cliffs. The waves were powerful but peaceful. Jaeson sensed these were waves signifying revival. The scene then changed and Jaeson was standing in front of a bay of deep blue water and on the other side of the water was a brown-colored building with many windows.He was standing with Jeremy Story on the edge of the cliffs with waves crashing onto the cliffs and the place they needed to get to was on the other side of the water.Jeremy wanted both of them to dive in but Jaeson was reluctant to at first.Jeremy did dive in first.When Jaeson saw Jeremy jumping in, he followed suit. The next day after the dream, Jaeson sent a summary of the dream to Jeremy Story and Dutch Sheets thinking it had some significance pertaining to college revival. (Earlier that year Dutch Sheets had given a prophetic word stating that this would be the year the youth movement would explode and universities would be impacted: UCLA, USC, UT, and Yale). Interestingly, a few days after the dream, Peter Gent sent Jaeson an email inviting the conference to be held at UCSD, and he included a link for UCSD conference centers in the email.Jaeson didn’t look at it, but forwarded the link to Jeremy Story. Minutes later Jeremy sends Jaeson back an email asking Jaeson if he looked at the UCSD conference center link because the pictures of the conference center resembled exactly what he saw in the dream (UCSD is located next to the famous San Diego Sea Cliffs and has large brown conference center buildings with large windows). Through this confirmation they knew they were to hold the CTN National Leadership Gathering at UCSD. The full reason was not revealed till the afternoon encounter with Wendy Andrews, Lou Engle and the revelation to reclaim the university campuses of America through the rising up of 24-7 campus houses of prayer.
We are holding a Blueprint Training on April 4-6 at USC in a few weeks. For those of you who have read the book, I would highly recommend you to come out to this intensive training that will give you the practical tools to move in prayer, power evangelism and planting simple churches on your college and university campuses. If you can't make it, spread the word and let's do this! JMA
Join us for three days of intense campus missionary training that will give you the "know how" in how to win souls, make disciples and plant campus churches. Campus Church Networks is holding a regional "Blueprint Training" to equip students in how to reproduce & multiply campus church planting movements on their campuses, cities and nations.
Every revolution starts with a revolutionary, are you willing to be the one? CCN is here to help you get started. Come to one of our regional Blueprint trainings to find out how you can start a Campus Church Planting Movement on your campus!
We are contending not only for revival but reformation on our college campuses. The Holy Spirit is moving powerfully on our campuses as students pray, move in the supernatural and boldly proclaim the Gospel. But, when new wine is poured out there will be a need for new wine-skins. This Blueprint training will launch you into loving the lost, making disciples, and planting simple churches.
Speakers: Jaeson Ma (CCN Lead Director) Sam Lee (CCN Church Planting Director) CCN Friends and Staff
Conference Schedule:
April 4th - 7-10pm April 5th - All Day April 6th - 9:30am-12:30pm
- What is Church? - What is a Church Planting Movement? - # 5 P's to Multiplying Campus Churches - How to Start Seeker Studies - 14 Steps to Following Up with a New Believer - Life Transformation Groups - How to Do Simple Church - Beyond the Campus: Simple Church Planting Among the Urban Poor
Housing: *** PLEASE NOTE *** Registrants are responsible for their own meals and housing.
Registration: Space limited to first 150 registrants. Please register online at http://www.socalblueprint.com/register/ Credit card required to process registration payment (uses Google Checkout).
Contact: info@campuschurch.net for more information.
"We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope." Martin Luther King Jr.
This is a powerful quote. One worth thinking, pondering and meditating upon. Everything in this world can fail us at any given moment. But there is one thing that will never fail us, that is the Love of God. I remember once, when I was at the end of my rope, everything in my life had fallen apart. I lost everything it seemed. My closest friends had betrayed me, my reputation was shattered, my job was lost, my first love (girlfriend) had left me, my family was divided, my heart wast torn, my church had accused me of things I had not done, my ministry was quickly fading away, I was at the end of myself. Anything, that had given me satisfaction, significance or worth had failed me. I knew Jesus was asking me a simple question, "Jaeson will you make Me your only satisfaction?" I struggled with that question for weeks, until I finally surrendered and prayed, "Jesus be my only satisfaction." It was then, when I was interviewing this now popular band "Switchfoot" I asked the lead singer Jon Foreman, "So why did you all name the new album 'Beautiful Letdown' ? He said, "That's a good question. You see, anything in this world can let you down. This chair I'm sitting on can break on me. I can sing in a few minutes, but the next minute I could lose my voice forever, I could come home and find out my wife has been cheating on me, anything can let you down. But you know what is beautiful about it? Is that when all the things of this world let you down, it leads you to that one thing that is truly beautiful, the Love of God. You see everything in this world is finite Jaeson, but only one thing is infinite, the never failing, always constant, unconditional love of Jesus Christ."
More and more, do I see that everything in this life, leads me back to that one thing, knowing and enjoying the fact that I am eternally loved by my Father in heaven. Everything in this world can fail you, but only one thing will not, God's love, for He is love and this love will never end, it is eternal and it is mine, it is yours. Just take it =) When all hope is gone, hope against all hope, God will see you through my friends, let Jesus be your only satisfaction.
Billy Graham has preached the Gospel to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history — over 215 million people in more than 185 countries and territories. Hundreds of millions more have been reached through the various ministries of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
