Week 3 - Evangelism and loving the broken

This week's topic was "Evangelism and loving the broken". Our speaker was Sam Hoffman from the YWAM Matamata base. On Justice Friday we had Denise Ritchie again speaking on the Sex Trade industry.

Sam was really bold and inspiritional. He's a really radical believer. He has spent a lot of time in India and was really good. We also found out on the Monday we would be going to India so we had a meeting with Sam to talk about it.

Sam’s key point was conveying the fact that we have the keys to eternal life and we need to share them. We need to break the mould and get out there and share something we are all passionate about.

See, Feel, Compassion and then Miracle. This is how Jesus heart worked. Jesus is really connected to the miracles that he works. He doesn’t just snap the magic fingers. He sees a need, then he really identifies with it and there is a flow out of compassion for the person in need. Then he does the miracle.

We need to go for a treasure hunt to find God’s call on our life. It’s often easy to lay back and expect God to work everything out for else. But we need to really seek him for what he wants for us. Persevering in the hunt also develops character.

Fear is what is holding us back from completing the great commission. We are too afraid to share with our friends, colleagues etc. On one hand we have the creator of the universe who happens to have befriended us, the people of the world. On the other we have the freaky idea that they are going to be labelled a Jesus freak and persecuted forever. I think if we think about the consequences of the first are going to be greater although delayed. Fear is so little in comparison to God and it’s time to share.

The currency of the kingdom is love. Who can resist truly selfless love! Ask for wisdom show us the people you want us to reach. To reject selfless love is somewhat foolish. We all desire to be loved and to reject love without conditions certainly would be a bit sad. To give selfless love is hard, because we have to deny ourselves. However I think it is definitely the best way to serve and reach others.

The disciples were so effective because they were bold. They got this boldness from the Holy Spirit. The disciples were no super humans. They were often absolutely foolish at times. But the Holy Spirit helped them to act in good ways. When Jesus ascends to heaven they are suddenly bold and equipped, this was by the Holy Spirit. Just like the disciples we need to be equipped with the Holy Spirit.

Faith is not alone enough. We need faith with works. Faith by itself does not share and does not help. It is important to share our faith as well as act upon it. If Jesus spent his time only with God then we would still be sitting here with the bullet of sin straight to our heads. Actions speak louder than words. It’s so cliché but it is so important to act out of our faith otherwise we are but a hermit. This was a really interesting point especially with the previous week's speaker who although very in touch with God didn't seem to be so much with the world.

Life has become very cosy and very easy. We can become very ignorant of the hurting around us. We need to break out from this self absorption of what we want and need. We need to break out to serve the people that have a real want and need. We are so concerned with our lives that we can fall into a state of ignorance just so we can focus more on ourselves. Life is very cosy we are so free now days. Now that I have finished school I can do whatever I want I’m only expected to look for a full time job or to study. Even if I don’t get a job I am looked after. We don’t have absolutely everything provided for us but we have a lot. It is very sad to consider what we have and what others need because they are often related. I don’t want to be another selfish statistic. I want to break out and serve people with selfless love. Putting more of me into others is better than putting all of me into myself. It is time to do something meaningful.

I have realised that we don’t need to be guided by the Holy Spirit to act. I have been denying doing things because I wasn’t lead by the Holy Spirit to do so. I realised in the parable of the Good Samaritan that you do not need to be guided to do something that you know is good. Also in Matthew 25 God notices what we do for even the least and he doesn’t necessarily guide us into doing it every time. I let myself into this complacency especially after Aaron’s lectures that we should seek intimacy before impact. Although I think he’s right we do need to seek intimacy before impact. We shouldn’t deny the impact that is right in front of us so that we can work on our intimacy.

Denise Ritchie’s key point was that we need to make it clear that this industry is not acceptable to those around us that are taking advantage of it. Otherwise they will continue to use it.

During the week we did some personal evangelism. I got partnered with Sam and he immediately set off to find the Indian he had pictured during our preparation. We found him immediately. His name was Danesh and Sam spoke to him in Hindi initially. He explained about the work he had done in India. He then proceeded to share about who we are. While I was praying I was watching him, he seemed a little apprehensive but I think that was because later we realised that his class was actually on whilst we spoke to him. He wasn’t convincing with his agreements with Sam which may have been due to this also. We prayed for him and then that lead on to my turn.

I talked to Javi from Spain. I share a bit about my testimony on deciding what to do with my life. He was quite interested although not entirely convinced. He was happy that he had been lead up to be a nice guy. Sam tried to convince him otherwise of the ways he had sinned. But eventually he had to go and I offered prayer and he accepted.

Week 2 - Intimacy with God

This weeks topic was Intimacy with God, our speaker was Aaron Walsh from Tauranga House of Prayer. On Justice Friday we had Denise Ritchie from Stop Demand talk about Human Trafficking. We also watched Human Trafficking (movie) on Thursday.

Aaron's lectures were pretty deep. He spends 4 hours in devotional time each morning. Obviously that is also kind of part of his job but I think the lectures really shined through this.

Aaron's key point was that you can't have authentic impact without authentic intimacy. Just like Jesus who constantly corresponded with the father throughout his ministry. It is important to keep a steady foundation into what God teaches us.

John the Baptist prepared 30 years for 6 months of ministry whereas Jesus for 3 years from 30 years preparation. He saw the needs around us; it just wasn’t his time to go yet. This really proves it is very important to spend time getting intimate with God because a short term ministry can still have a huge impact and doing what God wants is of vital importance because it can have a greater impact then what we could ever imagine.

The enemy doesn’t mind if we complete our mandate without intimacy with God. Have we rallied more people to a cause then to Jesus? If we get distracted by the big task of social justice we may lose our life with God. This is dire because our relationship with the creator of the universe is clearly far more important than a cause he is passionate about. It was interesting that Denise Ritchie our speaker on the Friday seemed to have fallen into this. She originally was very involved in YWAM but has strayed off and definitely didn't seem very church friendly.

The greatest hope for injustice is hastening the day of the lord, he makes everything right. This phrase was then followed by “Justice is what happens when Jesus makes all things that are wrong, right!” Sin will always be in this world and our only hope to end all injustice is when Jesus comes with the power he has to end it.

We need a vision from God to set restraints to say no to things that do not relate. Often there are worthy causes to get involved in but if we don’t have the mandate from God it is hard to say no. But if we have a clear mandate from God of what we have to do then it’s much easier to say no, to something worthwhile but not part of what God has called us to do.

Social justice that’s combined by humans but without God still leaves souls separated from God. We need to care for their immediate needs as well as their spiritual needs. Because if we look after them physically there won’t be any change in the direction of their lives. They will pursue the same things and end up in need again. If we look after them spiritually also they will hopefully change mindset and be able to support themselves better with the plans that Jesus makes for their lives.

Social justice can be a distraction away from God. Nothing is better than devotion to Jesus. It is very hard to ignore hurting, to do so to spend more time with God does seem somewhat barbaric. I personally think there needs to be a balance between the two. And often there is time spent not doing either that would be better spent spending time with Jesus or helping others.

Denise’s key point is that we focus too much on the supply end of the sex/prostitution industry. There needs to be more focus on removing the demand side because this is what drives the market. There is no supply without demand.

This is certainly a good approach to this problem. To often we focus on traffickers when the real offender is getting away without any consequence.

Week 1 - Justice

So I'm posting this only 6 weeks late. But hey I've seen the light now...

Our first week's topic was simply Justice, our speaker was Phil Cunningham from the United States (no relation to Loren and Darlene for those familiar with YWAM). We also had Erin Lucas (Wife of Jay the leader of YWAM NZ) come to speak to us about hearing the voice of God. She came for the first 2 days which made this first week totally overwhelming. Because we are a Justice DTS we cram 5 days of lectures into 4 so that we have a day to cover a justice topic. But with Erin coming as well we crammed 6 extra hours into our first 2 days (It ended up being probably about 4 hours in the end). Our first week schedule was thus off the chain and totally different to the following weeks.

Each week we have to complete a journal from the previous week. This includes information on lectures, our understanding of Justice (mostly covering our friday lecture) and engage. Engage is a small project we have to do each week with getting involved with the people here in Auckland. The idea is that we do small things out of love for the people that we can also apply when we return to our normal communities back home.

Erin told us a lot of stories about her journey thus far. I learnt a lot about hearing the voice of God from "Is that really you, God" by Loren Cunningham last year. I guess that book is what really fueled my interest in YWAM although I did ignore it at that time. She covered a lot of similar things that are covered in the book but it was good to have it applied from a person and to really reinforce what I learnt from the book.

Phil spoke a lot on many different Justice issues. He did a lot of unpacking of ideas related to justice such as:

• Refugees
• Trafficking
• Female Genital Mutilation
• HIV/AIDS
• Child Prostitution
• Domestic Violence
• Child Soldiers
• Abortion
• Starvation
• Rape
• Slavery
• Poverty

We looked quite a lot into Human Trafficking. The majority of Human Trafficking occurs for the sex industry. Girls are sold, abducted and tricked and sent overseas where they are forced to work in brothels. They cannot run to police because in some countries they are bribed by the brothel owners or because they are in a foreign country without real papers.

There are many parties involved in the process and it is a big business there is a lot of money in it. To stop this market running you can take out the traffickers but they will be replaced. You can't really remove all the girls. But if the man who buys this service doesn't then there is no market to be funded (Generally it is girls sold and men buying)

Along with our lectures we have worship and intercession times. This week Richard one of our staff covered an introduction to intimacy. He covered a few different types of prayers. One of which is Petition, where we ask God about our own needs. Intercession is petitioning for someone else. We are standing between them and God or between them and the enemy.

Here is something I write about the week in my actual first week:

It is now the end of the 3rd day and it has been totally awesome and intense. We have 5 hours of lectures on Monday and Tuesday because that was the only time the speaker was available. Thankfully that’s the end of it.

I have learnt a lot of the past couple of days. It became aware to me that there is child prostitution in New Zealand which I never thought of. We are living on the intersection of K road and Queen Street. K road is an infamous street in Auckland for prostitution. I have been out with some friends to see where we are really living and my heart breaks for these people. On the corner every night is a sign advertising new escorts. It seems to be really thriving in Auckland.

Today we had the “Amazing Prayer Race” and it truly was amazing. The idea was an orientation around the city whilst engaging with the 7 sectors of the world.

First we went to an organisation called ECPAT who work against child prostitution and trafficking. Although the woman was new to the organisation she was very kind and helpful to us. She also set us up with people that do know a bit more.

Then we went to an Auckland music store and listened to some alternative kiwi music and investigated the “P” culture. Then we went for a visit to a marae although some event seemed to be going on and we didn’t get to go inside.

We then headed over the Grafton bridge to the Auckland Museum to study some more Maori culture. On the way there we went through some Gardens which were much enjoyed by the foreigners in our group. It was a really good visit and much different to Te Papa in the way of different displays. We had prayer points to pray between Maori and NZ European.

After that we went to Starship hospital and we were to try find a patient to pray for. We went a bit back and forwards and were told we needed management approval to visit a patient. Eventually we did end up praying for a child who had been in and out for 4.5 years since she as 6 weeks old. Her mother was very open to letting us pray for her daughter and was really thankful.

Why haven't I posted in ages?

Yeh well I have been totally slack :s
But here's my excuse ^.^
I had christmas with my older sister over, she's just so amazing I couldn't think of anything amazing to post that would excuse me from lapping in her great wisdom :P
Then onto Soul Survivor, more about that later. Which lead onto New wine, since Soul Survivor was just so good (The 2 events are similar, more explained later)

Then onto Parachute once again I'll explain more later.
How lazy is that, I'll just do it all later haha

Well this post is better than none. I guess I need to stop expectations of getting a masterpiece to post everytime and just share stuff :p

Boxing day, What is it?

So I've wondered many times before, what is boxing day, where did it come from? It didn't take long to find out that Boxing day is a totally awesome day but not for what it is today.

Boxing Day dates back to past centuries when it was the custom for the wealthy to give gifts to employees or to people in a lower social class, most especially to household servants and other service personnel.

The tradition was that gifts were exchanged among equals on or before Christmas day. But on Boxing day cash or durable goods were given to those less fortunate. This originated in Britain and thus inherited to Australia and New Zealand.

There are a few origins as to why it is called Boxing day:
- People would give a gift of gratitude to those who worked for them which usually was a box of food or fruit
- Employees brought boxes to work with them on Boxing day which the employer would then put money into as an end of year gift
- A similar origin to the above was that an employer was obliged to give gifts of a practical nature to his/her employees
- The church gathered tithes to give to those less fortunate and were delivered from the collection box.

But it is clear in all these examples that boxing day was a day giving to those less fortunate. How did we lose such an awesome day on the calender, what a great thing to do.

I feel that this should be brought back. Thus today I will be making a group on Facebook, posting this in various places. Time to bring back the true Boxing day! Though I'm unprepared to celebrate the true Boxing day this year. I want to spread the word and I hope for something true next year. Although you could still thank people that serve you today! Even if it's not a gift...
It's all about the true meaning.

To join my group on Facebook or just take a look go to:
http://tinyurl.com/boxingday
You can take a look even if you aren't registered on facebook!

Merry Christmas

Just thought I would add a little note to say Merry Christmas to all readers. Have a totally awesome day and celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Not much more to say really...

Consumerism is not the answer to Happiness

So I had this thought partly also in thanks to Cassie from my youth group who contributed. I with help have devised some thoughts about how economics itself proves that consumerism is not the answer to happiness.

This is what in economics we call a demand curve. The law of demand states that as price decreases, quantity demanded increase. Which says as price decreases you will demand more of a good, because it costs you less.

But this year we studied in greater detail why this is.
Utility is a measure of how much satisfaction you gain from a good or service and from this is the most interesting law for today.
The law of diminishing marginal utility
- Successive equal additions to consumption will generate smaller amounts of extra utility.
Basically as you consume more the extra satisfaction becomes less.

Utility can even become negative. You wouldn't consume something even if you were paid to do so. Thus we have eating competitions where a reward is due, for one to want to enter. Whether it is material or the praise of others.
This whole idea is right in front of us. We know that if we have too much of one thing we will dislike it and can get to the point of sickness.
I believe the same occurs with consumerism, the satisfaction of material things becomes less and less until the person drives themself into depression or something of the sort.
We have heard it all before, people that are rich but unhappy.

I hope you enjoyed your beginner lesson in economics and are also convinced that consumerism does not equal happiness.