This is the first on this series. We had already defined brokenness as the painful process of training and discipline it takes to be totally kept under God and fully submitted to Him. They are those actions taken by God in order to produce character, self-control and habits of obedience in His child. God does not only deal with the visible habits but also the hidden thoughts, attitudes and intents of the heart.
We are going to see examples that illustrate brokenness so that we have better and broader understanding of the subject. They will be discussed exhaustively. Brokenness, no matter how painful it may be, is inevitable to every life that will be useful in God’s hand in bringing divine virtues to this broken world.
Shaping of costly stones in the Quarry for use in God’s building (1kgs 5: 17-18; 6:7)
“And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house. And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders did hew them, and the stonesquarers: so they prepared timber and stones to build the house.” ( I Kings 5:17-18 KJV).
“And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.” ( I King 6:7
KJV)
A quarry is an open excavation from which stone is cut, usually for building purposes…while building stones were occasionally finished at the quarry, the final dressing was usually completed at the building site. (from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary) (Copyright (C) 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)
The stones are cut into desired shapes. Rough edges are removed. If a piece of stone is taken to the site and it is discovered that it did not go through the quarry, the workmen will reject it and send it back. Why? Working on it in the building is going to cause noise and extra energy. This is because the tools for preparing the stones are in the quarry. The building site is for finished products to be fixed so as to bring out the beauty of the house. It shows that any stone that did not go to the quarry will be useless to the builders at the site.
From 1 Kings 5:17, we learn that the stones were great ones, costly and expensive, yet they had to go to the quarry. They had to go there if they would fit into the plan for the building.
Now, “we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.” 1 Cor 3:9 (KJV)
“But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” Heb 3:6 (KJV)
“Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” 1 Pet 2:5 (KJV)
We are God’s building and at the same time God’s co-builders. We are the instruments God uses to build His house, the Church. God wants to make us able instruments in His hands. However, we must be willing to go to the quarry so that we can fit into God’s plan. All of us are raw materials but our usefulness depends on how we yield and consecrate our lives to God.
There is so much ‘noise, completion, confusion and quarrels’ today in the building site because men have refused training and discipline. We are all here giving reasons why our failures are legitimate and our weaknesses have no help. As we continually submit ourselves to God’s dealings, we grow everyday to become the kind of vessels He wants us to be fit for His use.
The next time you begin to pass through some difficult situation, ask God to help you see whether it is a ‘quarry experience’ for your training or not.
Download the study one guide here for use in small groups!
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
TOPIC: BROKENNESS
GENERAL INTRODUCTION ON BROKENNESS:
General Memory Verse “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” Rom.8: 28
To break means to subdue, keep under, train or discipline, be brought to a disciplined state, oftentimes by force, blow or strain. When a horse is broken for example, it means that it has accustomed itself to wearing harness and therefore trained and under control. A broken child is a child that has responded positively to training and discipline.
Brokenness is the painful process of training and discipline it takes to be totally kept under God and fully submitted to Him. They are those actions taken by God in order to produce character, self-control and habits of obedience in His child. God does not only deal with the visible habits but also the hidden thoughts, attitudes and intents of the heart. Men may ask questions and be confused when they see God subjecting His faithful child to training and discipline because they judge by appearance. However, God always knows what He is pursuing in every man’s life, though men do not often see it.
The devil does not discipline any of God’s children because he has no right to do so but he can be used by God to achieve His purpose. Each process of brokenness a child of God goes through is allowed by God with good intentions and purposes. Anything can be used instrumentally but God is behind it all. It is entirely the working of God, hooked to His sovereignty and accepted by our faith for His divine purposes. These purposes are oftentimes neither explained nor understood by us in the midst of the process but later. Faith accepts it by saying, “not what I want nor my way but your way and your purpose, Lord”
As we go through this series of studies, it is very important that you settle it in your heart that the devil’s activities are not dominant. It is God’s activities that are dominant and in control of your life as a child of God. The devil’s activities, as far as your life is concerned, are contained and controlled within the activities of God to work together for your good, to the glory of God and the total shame of the devil. Let’s pray and open our hearts unto God so that at the end of this series, He must have achieved the willingness and yieldedness in us to make us what He wants us to be.
General Memory Verse “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” Rom.8: 28
To break means to subdue, keep under, train or discipline, be brought to a disciplined state, oftentimes by force, blow or strain. When a horse is broken for example, it means that it has accustomed itself to wearing harness and therefore trained and under control. A broken child is a child that has responded positively to training and discipline.
Brokenness is the painful process of training and discipline it takes to be totally kept under God and fully submitted to Him. They are those actions taken by God in order to produce character, self-control and habits of obedience in His child. God does not only deal with the visible habits but also the hidden thoughts, attitudes and intents of the heart. Men may ask questions and be confused when they see God subjecting His faithful child to training and discipline because they judge by appearance. However, God always knows what He is pursuing in every man’s life, though men do not often see it.
The devil does not discipline any of God’s children because he has no right to do so but he can be used by God to achieve His purpose. Each process of brokenness a child of God goes through is allowed by God with good intentions and purposes. Anything can be used instrumentally but God is behind it all. It is entirely the working of God, hooked to His sovereignty and accepted by our faith for His divine purposes. These purposes are oftentimes neither explained nor understood by us in the midst of the process but later. Faith accepts it by saying, “not what I want nor my way but your way and your purpose, Lord”
As we go through this series of studies, it is very important that you settle it in your heart that the devil’s activities are not dominant. It is God’s activities that are dominant and in control of your life as a child of God. The devil’s activities, as far as your life is concerned, are contained and controlled within the activities of God to work together for your good, to the glory of God and the total shame of the devil. Let’s pray and open our hearts unto God so that at the end of this series, He must have achieved the willingness and yieldedness in us to make us what He wants us to be.
Monday, 4 August 2008
Series on Brokenness
This is new.
I'll be doing a series of teachings on this very important matter: Brokenness. I'll provide a downloadable study guide in Adode Reader format for small groups in churches and fellowship groups. You only need to write me to let me know you downloaded the material: evergreenword@gmail.com
I'll be doing a series of teachings on this very important matter: Brokenness. I'll provide a downloadable study guide in Adode Reader format for small groups in churches and fellowship groups. You only need to write me to let me know you downloaded the material: evergreenword@gmail.com
Son of top Hamas leader converts to Christianity
God is doing great things these days. This testimony yet again confirms the authenticity of the gospel which we preach.
For every souls that is transformed by the power of the gospel of the Lord Jesus, the further it is confirmed the efficacy of the Word of God to change lives.
The son of a Hamas leader gives his life to Christ, calls his father and family to receive Jesus.
By Aaron Klein
WND FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
WorldNetDaily
Son of top Hamas leader converts to Christianity
'I hope my father and family open their eyes to Jesus and the Kingdom of God'
Posted: July 31, 2008
1:35 pm Eastern
JERUSALEM – The son of one of the most popular leaders in the Hamas terrorist organization has moved to the U.S. and converted to Christianity, it has emerged.
In an exclusive interview with Israel's Haaretz newspaper, Masab Yousuf, son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheik Hassan Yousef, slammed Hamas, praised Israel and said he hoped his terrorist father will open his eyes to Jesus and to Christianity.
"I know that I'm endangering my life and am even liable to lose my father, but I hope that he'll understand this and that God will give him and my family patience and willingness to open their eyes to Jesus and to Christianity. Maybe one day I'll be able to return to Palestine and to Ramallah with Jesus, in the Kingdom of God," Masab said.
Read it all here
For every souls that is transformed by the power of the gospel of the Lord Jesus, the further it is confirmed the efficacy of the Word of God to change lives.
The son of a Hamas leader gives his life to Christ, calls his father and family to receive Jesus.
By Aaron Klein
WND FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
WorldNetDaily
Son of top Hamas leader converts to Christianity
'I hope my father and family open their eyes to Jesus and the Kingdom of God'
Posted: July 31, 2008
1:35 pm Eastern
JERUSALEM – The son of one of the most popular leaders in the Hamas terrorist organization has moved to the U.S. and converted to Christianity, it has emerged.
In an exclusive interview with Israel's Haaretz newspaper, Masab Yousuf, son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheik Hassan Yousef, slammed Hamas, praised Israel and said he hoped his terrorist father will open his eyes to Jesus and to Christianity.
"I know that I'm endangering my life and am even liable to lose my father, but I hope that he'll understand this and that God will give him and my family patience and willingness to open their eyes to Jesus and to Christianity. Maybe one day I'll be able to return to Palestine and to Ramallah with Jesus, in the Kingdom of God," Masab said.
Read it all here
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Tension in the LAMBETH Conference as Sudan addresses the press
On Tuesday 22nd of July, the conference experienced a shake up when the Archbishop of the Sudan released a statement calling for the Episcopal Church of the United States to repent, and to cease “with immediate effect” its advocacy of gay bishops and blessings.
Rebuffed by conference organizers in releasing his message, Dr. Daniel Deng, Archbishop of Juba and Primate of the Sudan, went round them and held an impromptu press conference in the media room, and issued a call for Gene Robinson to step aside to save the Communion.
If [Gene Robinson] were a real Christian he would resign” Archbishop Deng said on July 22, as the Episcopal Church’s media handlers looked on in shock. A number of American bishops were taken aback by the Sudanese statement, as Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and a number of her colleagues spent the days before the opening of Lambeth with the Sudanese bishops in Salisbury.
From here, here and here
Read the full address of the Primate of Sudan Dr Daniel Deng Bul here
Rebuffed by conference organizers in releasing his message, Dr. Daniel Deng, Archbishop of Juba and Primate of the Sudan, went round them and held an impromptu press conference in the media room, and issued a call for Gene Robinson to step aside to save the Communion.
If [Gene Robinson] were a real Christian he would resign” Archbishop Deng said on July 22, as the Episcopal Church’s media handlers looked on in shock. A number of American bishops were taken aback by the Sudanese statement, as Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and a number of her colleagues spent the days before the opening of Lambeth with the Sudanese bishops in Salisbury.
From here, here and here
Read the full address of the Primate of Sudan Dr Daniel Deng Bul here
GAFCON Petition
I love what some folks in the Church of England are doing right now. Thank God for the GAFCON conference and all the people that God used to draft the final statement that has given a lead to what I see will bring sparks of revival in the Anglican Communion.
A petition is available for online signature for those individuals who wish to indicate their solidarity with the GAFCON movement. The wording of the petition is,
"I stand in solidarity with the Jerusalem Declaration and Statement on the Global Anglican Future."
Just click here to sign online
Remember the GAFCON Statement is here
A petition is available for online signature for those individuals who wish to indicate their solidarity with the GAFCON movement. The wording of the petition is,
"I stand in solidarity with the Jerusalem Declaration and Statement on the Global Anglican Future."
Just click here to sign online
Remember the GAFCON Statement is here
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
Archbishop of Canterbury: 'Christian doctrine is offensive to Muslims'
It's time the Archbishop of Canterbury tell us actually who he is representing. Is he representing Christians or is he representing Moslems? Just a few weeks ago, he said that Britain should make allowance for Sharia Law.
Last month, a major section of Anglican Christians from around the world held a conference in Jerusalem under a movement - GAFCON, to fashion out the future of the church because of the Archbishop's lack of will to make a decision, or better said, implement decisions he reached with the other Archbishops in several meetings. Now the communion is torn. Many of the Archbishops and Bishops from several nations have boycotted the Lambeth Conference which started on the 15th of July, including "Dr Nazir-Ali, whose seat in Rochester is just 20 miles away." Dr Nazir-Ali was at the GAFCON conference.
Now he's at it again. Is this man real? Is he serious? Is he out to serve God? Is he a practicing Christian or just one of the nominal fellows what chose 'Church work' and are climbing the ladder of leadership because of their prowess? Or does he have a hidden agenda we are yet to know? Does he have convictions? By saying that 'Christian doctrine is offensive to Muslims', he disarms himself and others he represents the boldness to preach the gospel. If it offends the muslims, then what? Doesn't islamic teachings offend others? Why should we continue to capitulate all the time while islam assume a victim status at the expense of all other religions?
May God save from such men who will only end up preparing members for the 'great falling away.'
Read the whole story here!
Last month, a major section of Anglican Christians from around the world held a conference in Jerusalem under a movement - GAFCON, to fashion out the future of the church because of the Archbishop's lack of will to make a decision, or better said, implement decisions he reached with the other Archbishops in several meetings. Now the communion is torn. Many of the Archbishops and Bishops from several nations have boycotted the Lambeth Conference which started on the 15th of July, including "Dr Nazir-Ali, whose seat in Rochester is just 20 miles away." Dr Nazir-Ali was at the GAFCON conference.
Now he's at it again. Is this man real? Is he serious? Is he out to serve God? Is he a practicing Christian or just one of the nominal fellows what chose 'Church work' and are climbing the ladder of leadership because of their prowess? Or does he have a hidden agenda we are yet to know? Does he have convictions? By saying that 'Christian doctrine is offensive to Muslims', he disarms himself and others he represents the boldness to preach the gospel. If it offends the muslims, then what? Doesn't islamic teachings offend others? Why should we continue to capitulate all the time while islam assume a victim status at the expense of all other religions?
May God save from such men who will only end up preparing members for the 'great falling away.'
Read the whole story here!
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Vanished!
“Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come”. Matt 24:40-42
Sooner or later, the World will witness the most amazing event in the history of Mankind. It is a phenomenon beyond human wisdom and understanding because both the living and the dead will be caught up suddenly to meet with the Lord in the sky leaving the world dazed. I could imagine Religious leaders, Academicians, Security operatives, Scientists and Leaders of Nations investigating and trying to explain to the dazed and confused World what has just happened to relations, friends and colleagues. Every TV and Radio station will be giving the breaking news with many unanswered questions. Imagine riding on a motorbike and suddenly, the bike driver is no more, the incoming vehicle has no body behind the steering, the pastor has just disappeared in the middle of a sermon, the person sitting beside you is gone, your spouse was nowhere to be found. What a confusion! It sounds illogical, isn’t it? But it will be a reality JUST ONE DAY. Jesus said that the heaven and earth shall pass away but his word shall not pass away unfulfilled. As the night follows the day and the dawn after a long darkness of the night so shall Rapture be for real irrespective of your theology and conviction. The Saints of the Lord, redeemed by the blood of Jesus shall be raptured in a moment out of this world.
“But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, sorcerers, and idolators and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death” Rev 21:8
Let us watch, brethren for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. Are you still hardened in your heart my dear friend? You have opportunity NOW to repent and believe the gospel. What are you waiting for?
written by Anayo in scm_futo@yahoogroups.com.
anayo_st@yahoo.co.uk
Sooner or later, the World will witness the most amazing event in the history of Mankind. It is a phenomenon beyond human wisdom and understanding because both the living and the dead will be caught up suddenly to meet with the Lord in the sky leaving the world dazed. I could imagine Religious leaders, Academicians, Security operatives, Scientists and Leaders of Nations investigating and trying to explain to the dazed and confused World what has just happened to relations, friends and colleagues. Every TV and Radio station will be giving the breaking news with many unanswered questions. Imagine riding on a motorbike and suddenly, the bike driver is no more, the incoming vehicle has no body behind the steering, the pastor has just disappeared in the middle of a sermon, the person sitting beside you is gone, your spouse was nowhere to be found. What a confusion! It sounds illogical, isn’t it? But it will be a reality JUST ONE DAY. Jesus said that the heaven and earth shall pass away but his word shall not pass away unfulfilled. As the night follows the day and the dawn after a long darkness of the night so shall Rapture be for real irrespective of your theology and conviction. The Saints of the Lord, redeemed by the blood of Jesus shall be raptured in a moment out of this world.
“But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, sorcerers, and idolators and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death” Rev 21:8
Let us watch, brethren for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. Are you still hardened in your heart my dear friend? You have opportunity NOW to repent and believe the gospel. What are you waiting for?
written by Anayo in scm_futo@yahoogroups.com.
anayo_st@yahoo.co.uk
Thursday, 3 July 2008
Persecution Report from Voice of the Martyrs
Many of us who live in the southern part of Nigeria do not know what believers are going through in the north and many other muslim-majority countries around the world. This ignorance is of great consequence as you will not able to pray properly. Watch this month's report which features up-to-date news, interviews and testimonies from around the world including Eritrea, Nigeria, Israel and Vietnam. Please pray and spread the news to make Christians aware. Another danger of this ignorance is that we will continue to preach our 'strange' message of prosperity instead of committing ourselves to missions and helping one another.
Watch Now
You can see more information here and the Persecuted Weblog here.
Watch NowYou can see more information here and the Persecuted Weblog here.
Monday, 30 June 2008
GAFCON Final Statement
Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) has been on for the past one week in Jerusalem. Anglicans from around the world, who protest the ordination of an openly professed gay as a bishop in The Evangelical Church of the United States of America, organized this conference to discuss the future of the Anglican Communion. The authority of the scripture was emphasized throughout the period of the conference. We must hold the Bible as our ultimate Source for faith and practice. We will be making reference to the implications of this conference from time to time in this blog. Read the final statement of the conference.
From here
GAFCON Final Statement
STATEMENT ON THE GLOBAL ANGLICAN FUTURE
Praise the LORD!
It is good to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. (Psalm 147:1-2)
Brothers and Sisters in Christ: We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, send you greetings from Jerusalem!
Introduction
The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), which was held in Jerusalem from 22-29 June 2008, is a spiritual movement to preserve and promote the truth and power of the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ as we Anglicans have received it. The movement is global: it has mobilised Anglicans from around the world. We are Anglican: 1148 lay and clergy participants, including 291 bishops representing millions of faithful Anglican Christians. We cherish our Anglican heritage and the Anglican Communion and have no intention of departing rom it. And we believe that, in God’s providence, Anglicanism has a bright future in obedience to our Lord’s Great Commission to make disciples of all nations and to build up the church on the foundation of biblical truth (Matthew 28:18-20; Ephesians 2:20).
GAFCON is not just a moment in time, but a movement in the Spirit, and we hereby:
• launch the GAFCON movement as a fellowship of confessing Anglicans
• publish the Jerusalem Declaration as the basis of the fellowship
• encourage GAFCON Primates to form a Council.
The Global Anglican Context
The future of the Anglican Communion is but a piece of the wider scenario of opportunities and challenges for the gospel in 21st century global culture. We rejoice in the way God has opened doors for gospel mission among many peoples, but we grieve for the spiritual decline in the most economically developed nations, where the forces of militant secularism and pluralism are eating away the fabric of society and churches are compromised and enfeebled in their witness. The vacuum left by them is readily filled by other faiths and deceptive cults. To meet these challenges will require Christians to work together to understand and oppose these forces and to liberate those under their sway. It will entail the planting of new churches among unreached peoples and also committed action to restore authentic Christianity to compromised churches.
The Anglican Communion, present in six continents, is well positioned to address this challenge, but currently it is divided and distracted. The Global Anglican Future Conference emerged in response to a crisis within the Anglican Communion, a crisis involving three undeniable facts concerning world Anglicanism.
The first fact is the acceptance and promotion within the provinces of the Anglican Communion of a different ‘gospel’ (cf. Galatians 1:6-8) which is contrary to the apostolic gospel. This false gospel undermines the authority of God’s Word written and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the author of salvation from sin, death and judgement. Many of its proponents claim that all religions offer equal access to God and that Jesus is only a way, not the way, the truth and the life. It promotes a variety of sexual preferences and immoral behaviour as a universal human right. It claims God’s blessing for same-sex unions over against the biblical teaching on holy matrimony. In 2003 this false gospel led to the consecration of a bishop living in a homosexual relationship.
The second fact is the declaration by provincial bodies in the Global South that they are out of communion with bishops and churches that promote this false gospel. These declarations have resulted in a realignment whereby faithful Anglican Christians have left existing territorial parishes, dioceses and provinces in certain Western churches and become members of other dioceses and provinces, all within the Anglican Communion. These actions have also led to the appointment of new Anglican bishops set over geographic areas already occupied by other Anglican bishops. A major realignment has occurred and will continue to unfold.
The third fact is the manifest failure of the Communion Instruments to exercise discipline in the face of overt heterodoxy. The Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada, in proclaiming this false gospel, have consistently defied the 1998 Lambeth statement of biblical moral principle (Resolution 1.10). Despite numerous meetings and reports to and from the ‘Instruments of Unity,’ no effective action has been taken, and the bishops of these unrepentant churches are welcomed to Lambeth 2008. To make matters worse, there has been a failure to honour promises of discipline, the authority of the Primates’ Meeting has been undermined and the Lambeth Conference has been structured so as to avoid any hard decisions. We can only come to the devastating conclusion that ‘we are a global Communion with a colonial structure’.
Sadly, this crisis has torn the fabric of the Communion in such a way that it cannot simply be patched back together. At the same time, it has brought together many Anglicans across the globe into personal and pastoral relationships in a fellowship which is faithful to biblical teaching, more representative of the demographic distribution of global Anglicanism today and stronger as an instrument of effective mission, ministry and social involvement.
A Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans
We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, are a fellowship of confessing Anglicans for the benefit of the Church and the furtherance of its mission. We are a fellowship of people united in the communion (koinonia) of the one Spirit and committed to work and pray together in the common mission of Christ. It is a confessing fellowship in that its members confess the faith of Christ crucified, stand firm for the gospel in the global and Anglican context, and affirm a contemporary rule, the Jerusalem Declaration, to guide the movement for the future. We are a fellowship of Anglicans, including provinces, dioceses, churches, missionary jurisdictions, para-church organisations and individual Anglican Christians whose goal is to reform, heal and revitalise the Anglican Communion and expand its mission to the world.
Our fellowship is not breaking away from the Anglican Communion. We, together with many other faithful Anglicans throughout the world, believe the doctrinal foundation of Anglicanism, which defines our core identity as Anglicans, is expressed in these words: The doctrine of the Church is grounded in the Holy Scriptures and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures. In particular, such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal. We intend to remain faithful to this standard, and we call on others in the Communion to reaffirm and return to it. While acknowledging the nature of Canterbury as an historic see, we do not accept that Anglican identity is determined necessarily through recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Building on the above doctrinal foundation of Anglican identity, we hereby publish the Jerusalem Declaration as the basis of our fellowship.
The Jerusalem Declaration
In the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit:
We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, have met in the land of Jesus’ birth. We express our loyalty as disciples to the King of kings, the Lord Jesus. We joyfully embrace his command to proclaim the reality of his kingdom which he first announced in this land. The gospel of the kingdom is the good news of salvation, liberation and transformation for all. In light of the above, we agree to chart a way forward together that promotes and protects the biblical gospel and mission to the world, solemnly declaring the following tenets of orthodoxy which underpin our Anglican identity.
1. We rejoice in the gospel of God through which we have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because God first loved us, we love him and as believers bring forth fruits of love, ongoing repentance, lively hope and thanksgiving to God in all things.
2. We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God written and to contain all things necessary for salvation. The Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading.
3. We uphold the four Ecumenical Councils and the three historic Creeds as expressing the rule of faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
4. We uphold the Thirty-nine Articles as containing the true doctrine of the Church agreeing with God’s Word and as authoritative for Anglicans today.
5. We gladly proclaim and submit to the unique and universal Lordship of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humanity’s only Saviour from sin, judgement and hell, who lived the life we could not live and died the death that we deserve. By his atoning death and glorious resurrection, he secured the redemption of all who come to him in repentance and faith.
6. We rejoice in our Anglican sacramental and liturgical heritage as an expression of the gospel, and we uphold the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer, to be translated and locally adapted for each culture.
7. We recognise that God has called and gifted bishops, priests and deacons in historic succession to equip all the people of God for their ministry in the world. We uphold the classic Anglican Ordinal as an authoritative standard of clerical orders.
8. We acknowledge God’s creation of humankind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family. We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married.
9. We gladly accept the Great Commission of the risen Lord to make disciples of all nations, to seek those who do not know Christ and to baptise, teach and bring new believers to maturity.
10. We are mindful of our responsibility to be good stewards of God’s creation, to uphold and advocate justice in society, and to seek relief and empowerment of the poor and needy.
11. We are committed to the unity of all those who know and love Christ and to building authentic ecumenical relationships. We recognise the orders and jurisdiction of those Anglicans who uphold orthodox faith and practice, and we encourage them to join us in this declaration.
12. We celebrate the God-given diversity among us which enriches our global fellowship, and we acknowledge freedom in secondary matters. We pledge to work together to seek the mind of Christ on issues that divide us.
13. We reject the authority of those churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed. We pray for them and call on them to repent and return to the Lord.
14. We rejoice at the prospect of Jesus’ coming again in glory, and while we await this final event of history, we praise him for the way he builds up his church through his Spirit by miraculously changing lives.
The Road Ahead
We believe the Holy Spirit has led us during this week in Jerusalem to begin a new work. There are many important decisions for the development of this fellowship which will take more time, prayer and deliberation. Among other matters, we shall seek to expand participation in this fellowship beyond those who have come to Jerusalem, including cooperation with the Global South and the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa. We can, however, discern certain milestones on the road ahead.
Primates’ Council
We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, do hereby acknowledge the participating Primates of GAFCON who have called us together, and encourage them to form the initial Council of the GAFCON movement. We look forward to the enlargement of the Council and entreat the Primates to organise and expand the fellowship of confessing Anglicans.
We urge the Primates’ Council to authenticate and recognise confessing Anglican jurisdictions, clergy and congregations and to encourage all Anglicans to promote the gospel and defend the faith.
We recognise the desirability of territorial jurisdiction for provinces and dioceses of the Anglican Communion, except in those areas where churches and leaders are denying the orthodox faith or are preventing its spread, and in a few areas for which overlapping jurisdictions are beneficial for historical or cultural reasons.
We thank God for the courageous actions of those Primates and provinces who have offered orthodox oversight to churches under false leadership, especially in North and South America. The actions of these Primates have been a positive response to pastoral necessities and mission opportunities. We believe that such actions will continue to be necessary and we support them in offering help around the world.
We believe this is a critical moment when the Primates’ Council will need to put in place structures to lead and support the church. In particular, we believe the time is now ripe for the formation of a province in North America for the federation currently known as Common Cause Partnership to be recognised by the Primates’ Council.
Conclusion: Message from Jerusalem
We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, were summoned by the Primates’ leadership team to Jerusalem in June 2008 to deliberate on the crisis that has divided the Anglican Communion for the past decade and to seek direction for the future. We have visited holy sites, prayed together, listened to God’s Word preached and expounded, learned from various speakers and teachers, and shared our thoughts and hopes with each other.
The meeting in Jerusalem this week was called in a sense of urgency that a false gospel has so paralysed the Anglican Communion that this crisis must be addressed. The chief threat of this dispute involves the compromising of the integrity of the church’s worldwide mission. The primary reason we have come to Jerusalem and issued this declaration is to free our churches to give clear and certain witness to Jesus Christ.
It is our hope that this Statement on the Global Anglican Future will be received with comfort and joy by many Anglicans around the world who have been distressed about the direction of the Communion. We believe the Anglican Communion should and will be reformed around the biblical gospel and mandate to go into all the world and present Christ to the nations.
Jerusalem
Feast of St Peter and St Paul
29 June 2008
From here
GAFCON Final Statement
STATEMENT ON THE GLOBAL ANGLICAN FUTURE
Praise the LORD!
It is good to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. (Psalm 147:1-2)
Brothers and Sisters in Christ: We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, send you greetings from Jerusalem!
Introduction
The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), which was held in Jerusalem from 22-29 June 2008, is a spiritual movement to preserve and promote the truth and power of the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ as we Anglicans have received it. The movement is global: it has mobilised Anglicans from around the world. We are Anglican: 1148 lay and clergy participants, including 291 bishops representing millions of faithful Anglican Christians. We cherish our Anglican heritage and the Anglican Communion and have no intention of departing rom it. And we believe that, in God’s providence, Anglicanism has a bright future in obedience to our Lord’s Great Commission to make disciples of all nations and to build up the church on the foundation of biblical truth (Matthew 28:18-20; Ephesians 2:20).
GAFCON is not just a moment in time, but a movement in the Spirit, and we hereby:
• launch the GAFCON movement as a fellowship of confessing Anglicans
• publish the Jerusalem Declaration as the basis of the fellowship
• encourage GAFCON Primates to form a Council.
The Global Anglican Context
The future of the Anglican Communion is but a piece of the wider scenario of opportunities and challenges for the gospel in 21st century global culture. We rejoice in the way God has opened doors for gospel mission among many peoples, but we grieve for the spiritual decline in the most economically developed nations, where the forces of militant secularism and pluralism are eating away the fabric of society and churches are compromised and enfeebled in their witness. The vacuum left by them is readily filled by other faiths and deceptive cults. To meet these challenges will require Christians to work together to understand and oppose these forces and to liberate those under their sway. It will entail the planting of new churches among unreached peoples and also committed action to restore authentic Christianity to compromised churches.
The Anglican Communion, present in six continents, is well positioned to address this challenge, but currently it is divided and distracted. The Global Anglican Future Conference emerged in response to a crisis within the Anglican Communion, a crisis involving three undeniable facts concerning world Anglicanism.
The first fact is the acceptance and promotion within the provinces of the Anglican Communion of a different ‘gospel’ (cf. Galatians 1:6-8) which is contrary to the apostolic gospel. This false gospel undermines the authority of God’s Word written and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the author of salvation from sin, death and judgement. Many of its proponents claim that all religions offer equal access to God and that Jesus is only a way, not the way, the truth and the life. It promotes a variety of sexual preferences and immoral behaviour as a universal human right. It claims God’s blessing for same-sex unions over against the biblical teaching on holy matrimony. In 2003 this false gospel led to the consecration of a bishop living in a homosexual relationship.
The second fact is the declaration by provincial bodies in the Global South that they are out of communion with bishops and churches that promote this false gospel. These declarations have resulted in a realignment whereby faithful Anglican Christians have left existing territorial parishes, dioceses and provinces in certain Western churches and become members of other dioceses and provinces, all within the Anglican Communion. These actions have also led to the appointment of new Anglican bishops set over geographic areas already occupied by other Anglican bishops. A major realignment has occurred and will continue to unfold.
The third fact is the manifest failure of the Communion Instruments to exercise discipline in the face of overt heterodoxy. The Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada, in proclaiming this false gospel, have consistently defied the 1998 Lambeth statement of biblical moral principle (Resolution 1.10). Despite numerous meetings and reports to and from the ‘Instruments of Unity,’ no effective action has been taken, and the bishops of these unrepentant churches are welcomed to Lambeth 2008. To make matters worse, there has been a failure to honour promises of discipline, the authority of the Primates’ Meeting has been undermined and the Lambeth Conference has been structured so as to avoid any hard decisions. We can only come to the devastating conclusion that ‘we are a global Communion with a colonial structure’.
Sadly, this crisis has torn the fabric of the Communion in such a way that it cannot simply be patched back together. At the same time, it has brought together many Anglicans across the globe into personal and pastoral relationships in a fellowship which is faithful to biblical teaching, more representative of the demographic distribution of global Anglicanism today and stronger as an instrument of effective mission, ministry and social involvement.
A Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans
We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, are a fellowship of confessing Anglicans for the benefit of the Church and the furtherance of its mission. We are a fellowship of people united in the communion (koinonia) of the one Spirit and committed to work and pray together in the common mission of Christ. It is a confessing fellowship in that its members confess the faith of Christ crucified, stand firm for the gospel in the global and Anglican context, and affirm a contemporary rule, the Jerusalem Declaration, to guide the movement for the future. We are a fellowship of Anglicans, including provinces, dioceses, churches, missionary jurisdictions, para-church organisations and individual Anglican Christians whose goal is to reform, heal and revitalise the Anglican Communion and expand its mission to the world.
Our fellowship is not breaking away from the Anglican Communion. We, together with many other faithful Anglicans throughout the world, believe the doctrinal foundation of Anglicanism, which defines our core identity as Anglicans, is expressed in these words: The doctrine of the Church is grounded in the Holy Scriptures and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures. In particular, such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal. We intend to remain faithful to this standard, and we call on others in the Communion to reaffirm and return to it. While acknowledging the nature of Canterbury as an historic see, we do not accept that Anglican identity is determined necessarily through recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Building on the above doctrinal foundation of Anglican identity, we hereby publish the Jerusalem Declaration as the basis of our fellowship.
The Jerusalem Declaration
In the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit:
We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, have met in the land of Jesus’ birth. We express our loyalty as disciples to the King of kings, the Lord Jesus. We joyfully embrace his command to proclaim the reality of his kingdom which he first announced in this land. The gospel of the kingdom is the good news of salvation, liberation and transformation for all. In light of the above, we agree to chart a way forward together that promotes and protects the biblical gospel and mission to the world, solemnly declaring the following tenets of orthodoxy which underpin our Anglican identity.
1. We rejoice in the gospel of God through which we have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because God first loved us, we love him and as believers bring forth fruits of love, ongoing repentance, lively hope and thanksgiving to God in all things.
2. We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God written and to contain all things necessary for salvation. The Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading.
3. We uphold the four Ecumenical Councils and the three historic Creeds as expressing the rule of faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
4. We uphold the Thirty-nine Articles as containing the true doctrine of the Church agreeing with God’s Word and as authoritative for Anglicans today.
5. We gladly proclaim and submit to the unique and universal Lordship of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humanity’s only Saviour from sin, judgement and hell, who lived the life we could not live and died the death that we deserve. By his atoning death and glorious resurrection, he secured the redemption of all who come to him in repentance and faith.
6. We rejoice in our Anglican sacramental and liturgical heritage as an expression of the gospel, and we uphold the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer, to be translated and locally adapted for each culture.
7. We recognise that God has called and gifted bishops, priests and deacons in historic succession to equip all the people of God for their ministry in the world. We uphold the classic Anglican Ordinal as an authoritative standard of clerical orders.
8. We acknowledge God’s creation of humankind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family. We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married.
9. We gladly accept the Great Commission of the risen Lord to make disciples of all nations, to seek those who do not know Christ and to baptise, teach and bring new believers to maturity.
10. We are mindful of our responsibility to be good stewards of God’s creation, to uphold and advocate justice in society, and to seek relief and empowerment of the poor and needy.
11. We are committed to the unity of all those who know and love Christ and to building authentic ecumenical relationships. We recognise the orders and jurisdiction of those Anglicans who uphold orthodox faith and practice, and we encourage them to join us in this declaration.
12. We celebrate the God-given diversity among us which enriches our global fellowship, and we acknowledge freedom in secondary matters. We pledge to work together to seek the mind of Christ on issues that divide us.
13. We reject the authority of those churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed. We pray for them and call on them to repent and return to the Lord.
14. We rejoice at the prospect of Jesus’ coming again in glory, and while we await this final event of history, we praise him for the way he builds up his church through his Spirit by miraculously changing lives.
The Road Ahead
We believe the Holy Spirit has led us during this week in Jerusalem to begin a new work. There are many important decisions for the development of this fellowship which will take more time, prayer and deliberation. Among other matters, we shall seek to expand participation in this fellowship beyond those who have come to Jerusalem, including cooperation with the Global South and the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa. We can, however, discern certain milestones on the road ahead.
Primates’ Council
We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, do hereby acknowledge the participating Primates of GAFCON who have called us together, and encourage them to form the initial Council of the GAFCON movement. We look forward to the enlargement of the Council and entreat the Primates to organise and expand the fellowship of confessing Anglicans.
We urge the Primates’ Council to authenticate and recognise confessing Anglican jurisdictions, clergy and congregations and to encourage all Anglicans to promote the gospel and defend the faith.
We recognise the desirability of territorial jurisdiction for provinces and dioceses of the Anglican Communion, except in those areas where churches and leaders are denying the orthodox faith or are preventing its spread, and in a few areas for which overlapping jurisdictions are beneficial for historical or cultural reasons.
We thank God for the courageous actions of those Primates and provinces who have offered orthodox oversight to churches under false leadership, especially in North and South America. The actions of these Primates have been a positive response to pastoral necessities and mission opportunities. We believe that such actions will continue to be necessary and we support them in offering help around the world.
We believe this is a critical moment when the Primates’ Council will need to put in place structures to lead and support the church. In particular, we believe the time is now ripe for the formation of a province in North America for the federation currently known as Common Cause Partnership to be recognised by the Primates’ Council.
Conclusion: Message from Jerusalem
We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, were summoned by the Primates’ leadership team to Jerusalem in June 2008 to deliberate on the crisis that has divided the Anglican Communion for the past decade and to seek direction for the future. We have visited holy sites, prayed together, listened to God’s Word preached and expounded, learned from various speakers and teachers, and shared our thoughts and hopes with each other.
The meeting in Jerusalem this week was called in a sense of urgency that a false gospel has so paralysed the Anglican Communion that this crisis must be addressed. The chief threat of this dispute involves the compromising of the integrity of the church’s worldwide mission. The primary reason we have come to Jerusalem and issued this declaration is to free our churches to give clear and certain witness to Jesus Christ.
It is our hope that this Statement on the Global Anglican Future will be received with comfort and joy by many Anglicans around the world who have been distressed about the direction of the Communion. We believe the Anglican Communion should and will be reformed around the biblical gospel and mandate to go into all the world and present Christ to the nations.
Jerusalem
Feast of St Peter and St Paul
29 June 2008
Friday, 27 June 2008
You can be healed
At the beautiful gate, the lame sat begging,
Begging for arms, begging for help,
He never knew that there's a Name,
That is bigger than the arms and man's help;
In the Name of Jesus, the lame man walked,
He ran and leaped praising the Lord.
You can be he--aled, says the Lord,
You can re--ceive, what you ask.
Just come by fai--th, To the Master,
And you can, never go, as you came.
At the gate of Nain, A widow was weeping,
For she thought, all her hope was gone.
She never knew, that there's a Name,
In whom, there is answer to her need;
She met the Lord, with a dead son,
But she left, with the son alive praising the Lord.
What men have said about your case,
May never be, God's Word;
His Word says 'You can be healed,
You can walk, you can leap praising the Lord,
Just come by faith, faith in Jesus,
You will have, a mi-ra-cle today.
Just come by faith, faith in Jesus,
You can have a miracle today.
Zakibiam 07.05.98
Begging for arms, begging for help,
He never knew that there's a Name,
That is bigger than the arms and man's help;
In the Name of Jesus, the lame man walked,
He ran and leaped praising the Lord.
You can be he--aled, says the Lord,
You can re--ceive, what you ask.
Just come by fai--th, To the Master,
And you can, never go, as you came.
At the gate of Nain, A widow was weeping,
For she thought, all her hope was gone.
She never knew, that there's a Name,
In whom, there is answer to her need;
She met the Lord, with a dead son,
But she left, with the son alive praising the Lord.
What men have said about your case,
May never be, God's Word;
His Word says 'You can be healed,
You can walk, you can leap praising the Lord,
Just come by faith, faith in Jesus,
You will have, a mi-ra-cle today.
Just come by faith, faith in Jesus,
You can have a miracle today.
Zakibiam 07.05.98
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Count it all joy
This is a blessing to my life. I just dusted it from my archives and want to share it with you. It was written in 1998 during my NYSC in Zakibiam, Benue State.
Count it all joy
Have you prayed all night long? Heaven seems like brass
If your life is pleasing to God, Count it all joy;
Even when answers delay, your mind full of questions,
If your mind is pleasing to God, the count it all joy.
Count it all joy, count it all joy,
If your life is pleasing to God,
Count it all joy.
When temptations tempt you sore, trials on every side,
There's only one thing to do, Trust His loving heart;
He'll never, never let you fall, underneath where you stand,
Are His eternal Arms, Count it all joy.
When you are feeling lonely, it seems the Lord is too far,
Loved ones are not near, your life seems cold;
It seems a lonely walk, where nobody cares,
If your life is pleasing to God, then count it all joy.
Count it all joy, in the face of various trials,
Along this Pilgrim's Way, count it all joy;
You've asked "is it my fault?", but hear the Word of God,
"Only be faithful, I'm there, follow me,
Wait, wait I say, wait don't bid me good bye,
I'm there I promise, you'll count it all joy".
My son count it all joy, my daughter count it all joy,
Only be faithful, you will count it all joy.
Count it all joy
Have you prayed all night long? Heaven seems like brass
If your life is pleasing to God, Count it all joy;
Even when answers delay, your mind full of questions,
If your mind is pleasing to God, the count it all joy.
Count it all joy, count it all joy,
If your life is pleasing to God,
Count it all joy.
When temptations tempt you sore, trials on every side,
There's only one thing to do, Trust His loving heart;
He'll never, never let you fall, underneath where you stand,
Are His eternal Arms, Count it all joy.
When you are feeling lonely, it seems the Lord is too far,
Loved ones are not near, your life seems cold;
It seems a lonely walk, where nobody cares,
If your life is pleasing to God, then count it all joy.
Count it all joy, in the face of various trials,
Along this Pilgrim's Way, count it all joy;
You've asked "is it my fault?", but hear the Word of God,
"Only be faithful, I'm there, follow me,
Wait, wait I say, wait don't bid me good bye,
I'm there I promise, you'll count it all joy".
My son count it all joy, my daughter count it all joy,
Only be faithful, you will count it all joy.
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
3 Reasons why you need Jesus
You may have tried a lot of things in this your life an all failed. You may have even tried to find meaning in life because of the things that have befallen you of late. I just want to share with you the three reasons why you need the Lord Jesus Christ. Remain blessed!
3 Reasons why you need Jesus
1. Because you have a past:
You can't go back to your yesterday but He can. Heb.13:8. He can walk into those places of sin and failures, wipe the slate of your life clear and give you a new beginning.
2. Because you need a friend:
Jesus knows the worst about you, yet He believes the best for you. Why? Because He sees you not as you are, but s you will be when He gets through with you. What a friend!
3. Because He holds the future:
Who else are you going to trust? In His hands you are safe and secure today, tomorrow and for eternity. (Jer.29:11-13 TLB)
I wish that you receive Jesus and you do it today!
3 Reasons why you need Jesus
1. Because you have a past:
You can't go back to your yesterday but He can. Heb.13:8. He can walk into those places of sin and failures, wipe the slate of your life clear and give you a new beginning.
2. Because you need a friend:
Jesus knows the worst about you, yet He believes the best for you. Why? Because He sees you not as you are, but s you will be when He gets through with you. What a friend!
3. Because He holds the future:
Who else are you going to trust? In His hands you are safe and secure today, tomorrow and for eternity. (Jer.29:11-13 TLB)
I wish that you receive Jesus and you do it today!
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