An end and a new begining

My lost few days were great. It consisted of a lot of invites to friends’ places for lunch and supper as well as a number of movies invites. As a result I have now seen the “Bourne Supremacy” as well as “The Village” twice on the big screen, all in my last 8 days of been in Grahamstown. Both are really good movies (in my opinion anyway).

Then there are all the amazing cards and letters that you get as farewell presents. I was really blessed by the encouraging things different people had to say to me.

I of course made the most of the last time I would see my Spiritual Leaders. So between Gareth, Tendai and Lester I got them to lay hands on me and impart the different things that I felt they really displayed in there lives.

Gareth – An apostolic and teaching anointing
Tendai – Righteousness, discernment and understanding the times
Lester – Courage and Boldness

These three mighty men have impacted me greatly, and have proven, by the way they live there lives, to be excellent role models of how to display Christ-like character.

Finally the end of the week came and I was ready to leave. I wanted to leave on Friday morning (12 November) and so decided to ignore the still small voice saying I should leave on the 13. So I leave on the 12… 12km’s later my trailers brand new tyre bursts resulting in a spectacular display of flying tyre tread in my rear view mirror. It then turns out that my cars wheel spanner is one size to big for the trailer.
By the time I am able to put on the spare, drive back to town and buy a new tyre it is almost midday, to late for me leave. So I say to myself, “Self, there is reason this happened”; it turned out that I would find out 600km away the next day what the reason was.

The Hitch Hiker
OK… so some of you might know that I never pick up strangers along the road. Firstly it is dangerous and secondly it is illegal. So I was really out of my comfort zone when I felt like God wanted me to give a hitch hiker a lift from Bloemfontein to Parys (+- 300km).

So I repacked my car (because there wasn’t initially enough space for him) and tell him to get in. I am notoriously bad company when I’m driving (prefer to watch the road) and so the only exchange of words during the first 100km was our names. At this point we reach some road works and have to stop. So now without the drowning noise of travelling this guy can now here my Jason Upton cd playing. He then also notices that I have push bracelet on. He says that he likes it and I then go on to say that I have been a Christian for 4 ½ years. He then says “Well maybe you can help me then”.

He then begins to tell me about some “powers” that “God” has given him. And that they fade in and out with the moon and then goes on to describe voices and demons that keep telling him that they are going to kill him. Straight away I realise two things.
His powers are not from God.
There must be some source to this.

I then conclude that (a) Either he smoked to much pot in the army or (b) He is genuinely demonized.

I decide to go with my gut instinct that he is demonized.

I then go on to explain to why the voice that has given him powers is not God and how curses and demons generally work.

At this point we drive under a bridge where I see a bunch of people dressed up like songoma’s (witch doctors), after I blink they are dressed normally. I decide that it was my imagination and then forget this.

A little while later the guy then tells me about something that happened to his whole troop while he was in the army. A sangoma had performed a ritual on them sprinkling some stuff and cutting them in the wrists. It was only nearly ten years after that that he decided to become a Christian and that is when he started hearing these voices and experiencing the demons that were chasing him.

So we get to Parys and we stop by the vaal river. I then layed hands and cast out the demons. Usually at this point I am usually a bit fearful (if you’ve ever seen demons manifest and start attacking then you will know why), but this time was different. I just had a total understanding of my authority in Christ and that the puny little demons didn’t stand a chance. After a few minutes they left. At this point the guy recommitted his life to God and I baptised him in the Holy Spirit.

It was at this point I then began to wonder if this was all fake or not. Suddenly for no reason the guy makes reference to the people under the bridge saying, “Those people under the bridge, they were waiting for a taxi, the demons were there… they were waiting for me… I saw them and I know you did to.”

The rest of the trip was uneventful.

Every Nation

So… as promised a little about my church.

We are word based and spirit filled, believe in extravagant worship
(the way it is in the bible) and don't care much for religion.

We are about Christ. About knowing, following and becoming like Him.
And we are quite serious about it. If something is close to God's
heart then it is close to our heart. We are spontaneous, loud, vibrant
and full of life.

There are 5 core values that you will find in our church (and every
other Every Nation church).

1. Lordship
2. Evangelism
3. Discipleship
4. Leadership
5. Family

Everything is built on these five values. It means that we (the
congregation and not just the full-time leaders) live under the
lordship of Christ. He is our head and the one that we depend on and
are ultimately accountable to. It means that we are burdened to see
people reconciled to God and living in Him. It means we are serious
about raising up a generation under us that is more filled with faith
and more Christ like than us. It means that we live to serve others in
what ever capacity possible. It also means that relationships are much
more important than function.

Basically everything about our church is geared towards raising up
leaders and reforming the nations. In fact, we are pretty good at it.
Currently I estimate our congregation to be around 180-300 in
membership. It is hard to tell because a lot of us attend all the
services. Of these there are over 50 leaders that head up the church.
This is a combination of cell leaders, band leaders, sound team
leaders, Sunday school teachers etc. Our church is very active in our
community, especially on the local university campus.

In my four years with the church I have learned many things. The most
practical of which is the fact that everything is sacred to God. What
does this mean?

It means God has something to say about every area of life and every
discipline. Whether it be family, marriage, careers, finances or the
government or whether it be science, economics, psychology, journalism
or art.

This means that just like a pilot knows a lot about flying before
he/she ever has any practical experience, that I (through applying
biblical principles) know a lot about how to effectively live life.
How do I know that this is actually the case. Very easy, I simply
compare myself and other Christians in my church to people we know
that are our peers or older. The state of our lives simply speak for
themselves.

Some people say that I take the bible too seriously… that's their
loss. I have experienced enough miracles over the last 4 years through
following the bible to keep you engaged in weeks of conversation.

So that is a very brief summary of my church, my spiritual family and my life.

Here is 6 of the 7 of us that live together. At least for another week that is. I move out next week and head off for Jo'burg. I finally discovered how it is spelt. Jo'burg not Johburg or Joburg. It is about time.

I will remember to use sunscreen... I will remember to use sunscreen... I will remember to use sunscreen... I will remember to use sunscreen

Here is the picture of my foot that I promised a while back. Don't worry... it is feeling and looking much better.