Do what the Apostles did and get what the Apostles got!

27 August 2011

"Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. And a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, “Look at us!” And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God; and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him."Acts 3:1-10

This is just in the beginning of the book of Acts. The apostles first waited until they got The Holy Spirit and immediately after that they took off and went out doing what they did. When we study the book of Acts and meditate on the word we see that the apostles were normal people, normal people like you and me! They hung out with Jesus during His career here on planet earth and they just did what HE told them to do. We can be the same kind of folks and do the same kind of things that the apostles did. When we do what the apostles did we also get what the apostles got!

Now you may wonder what they got? They got to see people saved, healed, set free and delivered. They got to walk in the power of The Holy Spirit outside the four walls of the box we people call church. We have to understand that WE are the church. They also got persecuted and many people as the scribes, pharisees and hypocrites where chasing them, lying about them and killing them. The Bible says that we also shall get this but I ask you to ask yourself what is more important? 1. To see people saved and the name of Jesus being preached or 2. You have a nice and safe life and you communicate with God sunday mornings and wednesday nights. It is here we have big problems in the body of Christ today. We do not want to put our hands in the dirt and in the name of Jesus grab up people from the pit of destruction. We want to be so holy and we want to be safe. I can tell you that when you walk as the apostles did, in the power of The Holy Spirit there is also enough power to protect you from all evil. You will see the evil, you will feel it but you can take it for granted: God will take good care of you.

“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Matthew 5:10-12

When we read the book of Acts we also see the other side. They were radical but not too "charismatic". They acted like regular people without any weird manifestations and they walked in love. How could they walk in love? 1. They had met Jesus and 2. They had The Holy Spirit. One thing that came to my mind a couple of days ago was that we do not have The Holy Spirit to do shows with manifestations and shakes. Those happens but we have to let HIM do it all, we should not focus on that stuff. Many times I have thought how it ever could be possible for me to love all people, to love those who lie about me and to love those who are throwing rocks at me. This is why we have The Holy Spirit as we are able to love each and every one by the power of The Holy Spirit. Here we have a key to success and most of all to a very important thing; to forgiveness. We have to forgive and we have to forget. So lets do what the Apostles did and we will get what the Apostles got! VICTORY!

The coming times

The works on our house is moving forward and I am happy to be off for a couple of more weeks. This sunday (tomorrow) we will worship Jesus together with Martin Kantola and Camilla Cederholm in The Methodist Church of Vasa. Next week I will focus on our home so it can be ready before the fall kicks in and I am out on the roads and in the air again.

September 10th and 11th I will be in Hyvinkää outside Helsinki and the saturday night is something we do as Ambassadors For Jesus Christ together with Gospel Riders for the local youth. Sunday 11th I will speak at the local church service. The following weekend, September 17th and 18th I will be down there again but only 10 miles away in the town of Riihimäki. Another youth event and another church service on sunday. From there I fly to Spain to serve the Lord as an Ambassador For Jesus Christ together with Gospel Riders Espana and some other biker clubs.

October is stil open. There are plans to do some meetings together with Pastor Tommy Lilja in Finland and another Life in Him event is booked in Laihia October 14th. I am very pleased about all these youth events as God has put the youth on my heart more than ever lately. End of the month I am traveling first to Sölvesborg, Sweden for a conference and to Södertälje, Sweden for a one night meeting before I jump on the plane in Stockholm and fly to Houston, Texas.

Mission America 2011

In USA we will first attend The Lonestar Rally in Galveston, Texas and this will be my fourth year at the rally. Our ministry over in USA have also set up meetings for me during my stay and me and brother Samuel Eby have decided to do what the Apostles did so we also can get what the Apostles got during a five day long road trip of Texas. They also have young people in Texas and november 11th we are doing a youth night in San Antonio and from there we continue through Fort Stockton to El Paso and a short visit to Juarez, Mexico. Meetings are getting confirmed along the road but our main mission during these days is to take the Gospel to the streets, like the Apostles did. There will also be some meetings for the homeless and for the alcoholics in Houston, Texas and under the bridges.

From Houston, Texas I fly to Milford, Ohio for one meeting before I end my Mission America 2011 trip in Florida. Dates are being confirmed and God is opening doors. IF you feel led by The Holy Spirit to be a happy giver you are more than welcome to sow into the work we do for the Kingdom. We need to print tracts and cd:s we are going to give away. We need gas and lodging and we also might need to eat on the road. Our goal is to raise 3000 euros before the end of September. Pray with us! We believe in a breakthrough during this trip and we are looking forward for everything to come.

Have a wonderful and Blessed week!

Pontus