Surat dari Dunia Jalanan

Dear Friends and family in Christ,

Thank's untuk semua saudara seiman yang sudah memberikan respon pada apa yang sedang kami lakukan saat ini. Kami sangat membutuhkan saudara-saudara seiman sebagai pendoa dan sahabat bagi kami. Melakukan perintisan pelayanan atau gereja bagi para anak subkultur bukanlah hal yang mudah oleh sebab itu kami perlu anda sebagai pendukung kami di dalam doa dan juga teman untuk saling berbagi di dalam suka
maupun duka.

Sebuah kisah apa yang terjadi di jalanan hendak saya coba untuk bagikan ; Seorang anak jalanan yang sudah hampir dua puluh tahun hidup di jalan menuturkan pengalamannya pergi dari rumah. Katanya waktu kecil ia banyak ngeluyur dibanding sekolah, lebih banyak bermain dari pada belajar. Akibatnya, teman-temannya sudah naik ke kelas tiga ia masih saja duduk dibangku kelas satu. Buat sebagian anak pergi ke sekolah tidaklah selalu berarti pengalaman yang menyenangkan. Seorang anak lain N bila mengingat sekolah maka yang muncul adalah gurunya yang galak dan tubuhnya yang menjadi sasaran sabetan. Katanya:
Waktu saya sekolah saya digebugin karena di sekolah saya goblog. Di bawa ke kantor karena.sering nonton TV lalu disuruh membaca di papan tulis tidak bisa. Di sabet badanku. Pak guru saya galak. Lalu saya keluar kelas tiga.

Keadaan murid-murid bermasalah seperti itu biasanya dilaporkan oleh guru kepada orang tua murid. Laporan itu bisa menjadi penyulut kemarahan orang tua. Seperti yang dituturkan H:
Pak guru saya sering datang menemui orang tua saya menceritakan keadaan saya. Saya dimarahi bapak tidak hanya dengan suara tetapi juga digebugi pakai sapu lidi sampai merah kaki saya.

Berbagai penyuluhan, berita TV dan radio secara bertubi-tubi telah mengajar para orang tua memlaui pembatinan bahwa anak yang baik adalah anak sekolahan. Karena itu wajar saja bila guru tidak mampu lagi mendidik anaknya, maka orang tualah yang akan meng(H)ajar anaknya. Hasilnya seperti H dan N lari meninggalkan rumah.

Ketika pertama kali hadir di jalan, seorang anak menjadi anonim. Ia tidak mengenal dan dikenal oleh siapapun. Selain itu juga ada perasan kuatir bila orang lain mengetahui siapa dirinya. Tidaklah mengherankan bila strategi yang kemudian digunakan adalah dengan
mengganti nama. Hampir semua anak yang saya kenal mengganti nama.
Hal ini dilakukan untuk menjaga jarak dengan masa lalunya sekaligus masuk dalam masa kekiniannya.

Anak-anak mulai memasuki dunia jalanan dengan nama barunya. Anak- anak yang berasal dari daerah pedesaan menggganti dengan nama-nama yang dianggap sebagai nama "modern" yang diambil dari bintang sinotren atau yang yang biasa didengarnya misalnya dengan nama Andi, Roy dan semacamnya. Seorang anak yang bernama Mohammad kemudian mengganti namanya menjadi Roni. Alasan yang diberikan karena
Mohammad adalah nama nabi. Nama itu tidak cocok dengan kehidupan di jalan. Karena yang dilakukan di jalan banyak tindakan haram.
Proses penggantian sebutan itu dengan sendirinya menunjukkan bahwa ia bukan sekedar pergantian panggilan saja tetapi juga sebagai sarana menanggalkan masa lalunya. Artinya ia dalah bagian dari proses untuk memasuki satu dunia (tafsir) baru. Sebuah kehidupan
yang merupakan konstruksi dari pengalaman sehari-hari di jalan.

Kami mendedikasikan diri untuk menjangkau orang yang terbuang dan anak-anak malam hingga merekapun dapat tinggal " dibawah bayang- bayang salib"(The shadow of the cross) alias mengenal Kristus.

Bagi mereka yang telah menjadi bagian dari kaum subkultur selama bertahun tahun lamanya dan lalu telah keluar dari sana menjadi seorang Kristen….menjadi seorang Kristen namun tetap berada dalam budaya subkultur nampak mustahil untuk dilakukan tanpa bersinggungan dengan otoritas dan ikatan kegelapan yang ada dalam "Lembah
Kekelaman". Ada begitu BANYAK hal yang mengikat kaum subkultur yang HARUS dipatahkan dengan mulai melayani Kristus. Kehidupan kita harus selaras dengan Firman Tuhan, atau kita akan hidup terus menerus di dalam ikatan itu sendiri, bagi seorang Kristen apa yang tidak mempermuliakan Tuhan, itu berasal dari kedagingan.

Ada beberapa contoh hal atau ajaran yang mempengaruhi pola pikir dan tindak tanduk orang kebanyakan tanpa mereka sadari dari berbagai media yang tersedia yang sehari-hari mereka lihat, dengar dan baca seperti :

New Age, Neo-paganism (penyembahan berhala modern), Vampirism, Druidism ( agama kuno di daratan Eropa sebelum kekristenan masuk), Necromancy (ramalan), Hawa Nafsu, Homoseksual, Seks yang tak wajar (sekalipun dalam pernikahan), Seks (di luar pernikahan), Pembunuhan, Mengejek, Bunuh diri, Narkoba, Mabuk-mabukan, Melukai diri sendiri, Wicca (sebuah bidat penyembah berhala), Paganism, Witchcraft (ilmu
sihir), kemarahan, kebencian, anarkisme, aborsi dll. Hal ini semua bertentangan dengan kehendak Tuhan. SEMUA INI HARUS DISERAHKAN DAN DIPATAHKAN DENGAN MELAYANI (MENGHAMBAKAN DIRI) PADA TUHAN DENGAN
SEGENAP HATI KITA. Seorang yang sungguh-sungguh merupakan pengikut Tuhan tidak melakukan semua hal itu.

Seringkali kami mengekspresikan diri persekutuan kami dalam bentuk jemaat mula-mula, sebuah warisan yang sangat memperkaya iman kami.
Dari seni sampai pada musik, dari penyembahan sampai pada doa, kami memiliki sejarah yang memberikan sebuah inspirasi bagi generasi yang baru untuk datang padaNya secara apa adanya dan be simple. Kami lebih menekankan pada hubungan kekeluargaan, pemuridan dan "be the church", dalam praktik gereja yang kami rintis di dalam Tuhan.

Kami sangat antusias membina hubungan dengan semua saudara seiman yang "care" (peduli) dengan menyelesaikan tugas Amanat Agung, terimakasih atas dukungannya, support melalui kata-kata motivasi dan share suka duka pelayanan di jalanan atau pun perihal keprihatinan kondisi gereja saat ini. Kami sadar kami tidak dapat berbuat apa-apa tanpa dukungan dari seluruh rekan saudara seiman di blog ini. God bless you, all.

Ps. Dave Broos
davebroos@yahoo.co.uk
081330135643
http://shaddowcross.blogspot.com

Freedom to Act Against Ourselves

Freedom to Act Against Ourselves by Robert Ricciardelli
Father is increasingly bringing His government upon the earth to quicken mankind towards His image and intentions. It is time to assess and discuss the complex aspect of human behavior from a Kingdom perspective. I pray we ask the Lord often to reveal to us what needs to be known - that which may be hidden, and help us to receive it, and implement it in our lives for His glory.

The Gospel of the Kingdom is the redemptive manner in which God intends for His Will to be accomplished in the earth. This, in itself, should alert us to the misappropriation of prevailing messages of the “preparing us for heaven” gospel. Yes thankfully heaven is in the mix, but the place called heaven is for later while the work of spreading heaven on earth is present and ongoing.

This Kingdom is more than the redemptive act accomplished in the Person of Christ, resulting in our going to heaven. We are thankful for redemption, but we cannot remain stuck there, waiting on Him or heaven, while all the while, He is waiting on us. He has empowered us with His Spirit and therefore the power of heaven is within us. No more hanging on for Jesus to return when He is hanging out with us to occupy until He comes.

The sheer weight of the word Kingdom carries governmental connotation, which lovingly demands a behavioral response from us. Christ presented and demonstrated a “Father pleasing” life that is beyond doctrine and rituals. There must be a response to the declarations of, “The Kingdom of God, is at hand, and The Kingdom of God is within you, and I hear the echoes of Apostle Paul’s cry of laboring until Christ becomes fully formed in us.

New Birth beyond the “heaven and hell” destination
Most of us have read the Bible with the lens of being born again and going to heaven as the final prize. And then collecting many more into our buildings to sing “I’ll fly away”, while expecting the world to “fry away” anytime soon. Being born of the Spirit has always been only the entrance into the Kingdom of God, which is the living realm of being Spirit filled attractors of His heavenly essence upon the earth. The end game of heaven for each of us will come, but now while we are here, we bring the power and presence of God through our natural lives. This season for us is just getting started, and the first step is to begin to shed our religious ways, that many times distracts us. Darkness in each of us needs to exposed and expelled so that more of His light and nature can flow from us.

The new birth represents the coming out of darkness and being reborn into the Kingdom sphere of Agape and Light. When this occurs, I am empowered with Kingdom understanding, and am free to act against myself or the nature of self.

The new birth is Father’s insemination of His eternal seed to each person who receives and embraces Christ.

John 1:12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

It communicates the essence of the New Creation by restoring to me eternal Life, and being raised up in the form of His Agape. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! This is indeed, that which was taken from us in the transgression of Man and now restored to us in the Last “Son of Man”. As His children we once again have the “God in us” potential to be human as God intended. His Life, given to me is that which enables me to act against myself, since my life is not my own, and since now I have chosen to live as a Father pleaser.

God is Love and Christ appeared as Love Incarnate for the sole purpose or rather, the specific purpose of being the one that could and did act against Himself. This He did for the single purpose of bringing in a new creation, one that is capable of acting against self in order to live as Him for the world. His life showed the way and His death and resurrection secured the way for all of us.

That purpose is stated in Heb 8:10: I come to do Thy will, O God. This, of course, is restated in the encounter at Gethsemane: Not my will, but Yours be done. We can now see the manner in which Father intends for His will to be accomplished on the earth through us who also say, “Father, not my will, but yours be done in my life.” Becoming incarnate ambassadors of God’s nature, which is Agape love, is His will for us.

The activated ingredients of His nature are present and revealed through His children. Many have said a prayer without revelation and the actuality of becoming an empowered follower Jesus and His ways. As Christ is becoming fully formed in us through becoming disciples of His way, truth, and life, His nature will increasingly and supernaturally be revealed. Living a life that Father intends for each of us is the evidence of the power of God within us. This is not works based on anything but an outward flow of His agape nature in us. Religion has rules to follow that create a form of godliness, but it falls far short of His power, His glory, and cannot be sustained.

So we live under His governance and His Kingdom government has no end. Nations will continue to rise and fall, but His Kingdom will continue to come while His people rise up as Kingdomized servants who carry the hope for humanity. These are exciting times, as the opportunity to present everlasting hope has never been better. We have the freedom through Christ to put down our nature, and living in His nature. There is no greater measurement to our daily living than how much we love our Father, and love others. You have come a long way baby, so have I, and we got a long way to go. But He is with us, and the gates of he shall not prevail against us, or His Eternal Kingdom.

WHY CLOTHING? WHY ART? WHY ENTERTAINMENT?

WHY CLOTHING? WHY ART? WHY ENTERTAINMENT?
(Shadow of The Cross Indonesia – A Ministry of Eagles Nest Ministries)

Beberapa rekan bertanya, “Mengapa kamu mau membuat clothing Dave?” “Mengapa sekarang kamu terlibat dalam dunia seni dan entertainment?”
Ada beberapa alasan namun alasan paling mendasar adalah kesedihan hati saya melihat brand atau merk dagang dan tulisan-tulisan yang mencitrakan nilai-nilai yang dipercayai oleh produsennya, entah ia secara sadar atau tidak mengizinkan tulisan itu ada di sana.
Sebagai contoh salah satu brand clothing distro terkenal di Bandung :

Kerinduan hati saya adalah “memerangi nilai” yang salah dan menanamkan nila-nilai kebenaran melalui dunia mode.
Ada banyak cara untuk menanamkan nilai kebenaran pada saat ini, cara-cara konvensional mungkin sudah kurang populer di kalangan orang muda. Pada saat ini ada begitu banyak orangtua yang kebingungan melihat tingkah polah anak-anak mereka, bahkan anak-anak para rohaniwan pun terkena imbas perkembangan zaman ini.
Salah satu cara kami untuk menanggapi dan menghadapi arus perubahan zaman ini adalah dengan membuat usaha clothing. Clothing yang memiliki nilai kristiani namun dapat diterima oleh masyarakat umum. Kami memperhatikan banyak clothing company kristiani yang tidak memberikan yang terbaik. Seringkali harganya mahal, tetapi tidak disertai dengan kualitas kain t-shirt maupun desain yang monoton. Kami memiliki kerinduan untuk mengembangkan bukan hanya clothing tetapi juga art atau seni dalam dunia kekristenan.
Saya melihat ada begitu banyak cara untuk masuk bagi kita sebagai anak Tuhan sebagai “garam dan terang” di tengah masyarakat dengan terlibat di dalam dunia mode atau clothing, maupun seni dan hiburan. Kami datang bukan untuk menjadikan seseorang beralih agama tetapi memperkenalkan setiap orang kepada Kristus. Agama Kristen tidak akan merubah seseorang tetapi pribadi Kristus akan merubah setiap orang yang percaya padaNya. Tolok ukur kekristenan bukanlah KTP-nya atau kerajinannya mengikuti setiap acara atau tata ibadaha dalam gereja, tetapi ketaatannya terhadap setiap kebenaran firman Tuhan.
Bagi Anda yang tertarik pada perkembangan mode, clothing, seni dan entertainment sebagai alat untuk menjangkau dunia. Dapat menghubungi kami melalui email davebroos@yahoo.co.uk. God bless you.

SHADOW OF THE CROSS INDONESIA

SHADOW OF THE CROSS

(A MINISTRY OF THE EAGLES NEST MINISTRIES)

Shadow of the Cross, merupakan sebuah pelayanan penjangkauan, pemuridan dan penanaman gereja bagi kaum subkultur. Apakah kaum subkultur? Kaum subkultur merupakan suatu “suku” yang terlahir dari suku yang sudah eksis dalam sebuah kota dimana mereka menjadi komunitas tersendiri, memiliki filosofi tersendiri dan budayanya sendiri. Di perkotaan kita mengenal mereka sebagai komunitas Underground, Gothic, Punk, Skaters, Bikers, Tattoo, Body Piercing, dstnya.
Sudah ada banyak pelayanan missi yang fokus menjangkau suku terabaikan namun masih jarang yang secara serius menangani komunitas-komunitas suku terabaikan diperkotaan ini. Seringkali bagian dari komunitas ini mengalami dan merasakan penolakan bila mereka menghadiri ibadah gereja pada umumnya. Kami percaya bahwa Tuhan Yesus juga mengasihi mereka dan menerima mereka juga sebagai anak-anakNya. Gereja kita saat ini tanpa sadar sudah memiliki stereo-type, siapa yang dapat beribadah dengan kita. Bila ada pasangan suami istri yang berkopiah dan berkerudung masuk ikut beribadah kita sudah mulai kasak-kusuk mempertanyakan mengapa orang berpakaian seperti itu masuk dalam gereja jangan-jangan “mata-mata”. Apalagi kalau yang masuk sekumpulan anak Punk dengan potongan rambut Mohawknya yang berwarna-warni, jaket jeans yang lusuh dan dipenuhi spike (paku hiasan). Bagian usher atau bahkan satpam akan melarang bahkan mengusir mereka dari ibadah sebab takut mereka akan melakukan tindak kriminal.
Kami banyak melayani dan menemukan orang-orang dari subkultur ini yang sebenarnya mencari kebenaran, haus dan lapar akan Tuhan namun enggan pergi ke gereja sebab sudah berulangkali mengalami penolakan. Lalu bagaimana sikap kita? Apakah kita sebagai gereja Tuhan enggan bersentuhan dengan mereka sebab penampilan dan gaya hidup mereka? Kita selalu berdoa agar Tuhan memberikan jiwa-jiwa baru tetapi ketika “kaum ini” datang kita menolaknya sebab “mungkin” kita tidak mengharapkan mereka yang datang, “mungkin” kita berharap konglomerat yang bertobat dan menjadi bagian kita. Yah, “mungkin”.
Shadow of the Cross, hadir untuk melayani kaum marginal di dalam masyarakat. Kerinduan kami adalah menghadirkan gereja di tengah mereka, memperkenalkan kasih Bapa yang sempurna dan menjadi saudara mereka dalam perjalanan kerohanian mereka.
Apa yang kami kerjakan bukanlah pelayanan yang populer, banyak yang menyatakan untuk apa melayani “kaum yang sulit ini”. Kaum yang pemberontak, anti kemapanan dan tidak dapat memberikan “income” bagi yang melayaninya. Bila kami meresponi panggilan ini sebab kami melihat bahwa mereka juga memiliki hak untuk mendengarkan Kabar Baik dan pengharapan yang telah dibukakan oleh Tuhan Yesus. Kami tahu rata-rata mereka adalah anak muda (orang berjiwa muda) yang tinggal dan hidup di jalanan, jadi jelas mereka bukanlah kaum borjuis. Kami melayani dengan hati yang tulus dan bukan karena uang yang dapat kami hasilkan melalui pelayanan. Kami melangkah dengan iman, bila Tuhan yang menghendaki kami melayani mereka, IA pula yang akan cukupkan kebutuhan kami. Kami tidak memiliki fasilitas apa-apa, tetapi kami punya hati untuk melayani. Entah ada donatur atau tidak, yang kami tahu dan percaya adalah Tuhan ada serta kami.
Kami tidak meminta uang Anda melalui surat ini, tetapi dukunglah kami di dalam doa agar kami tetap setia melayani kaum yang “sulit” ini dengan hati yang penuh belaskasihan dan diberikan hikmat untuk membawa mereka dalam pengenalan akan Tuhan Yesus secara lebih mendalam.
Terimakasih sudah membaca surat kami ini, Tuhan Yesus memberkati.

Dave Broos

“Gembala kaum yang terbuang”

How the Resurrection Broke Eden’s Curse

How the Resurrection Broke Eden’s Curse
By Lee Grady www.themordecaiproject.com

Sin began in a garden. Thousands of years later, Jesus Christ stood in another garden and announced His ultimate victory.

The Easter story has many amazing scenes: Jesus' last Passover meal with His disciples, His arrest and brutal scourging, His crucifixion between two criminals, and the dramatic darkness that fell on Jerusalem at the moment of His death. But my favorite part of the story is when Mary Magdalene peered inside Jesus' tomb on that resurrection morning. John 20:11-12 describes it this way:

"But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying" (NASB).
"The death and resurrection of Jesus brought a great reversal. While Genesis 3 brought pain, slavery to sin and alienation from God's presence, John 20 brought healing, deliverance and full restoration of fellowship with the Son of God.""

The two angels were poised at the head and foot of Jesus' grave. Does this remind you of anything familiar? These heavenly creatures must have looked exactly like the cherubim that decorated the cover of the ark of the covenant—the golden box that housed the very presence of God in the tabernacle of Moses.

That ancient ark was hidden behind a veil. Under the rules of the old covenant the manifest presence of God was off-limits to people. Sinful men and women had to stand at a distance, and only the high priest could enter the holy of holies once a year to make atonement.

Yet on Easter morning, after the Lamb of God had been sacrificed on Calvary's cross, the stone covering Christ's tomb was rolled away to reveal this profound sight. The two angels appeared on top of His grave to show us that the glory of God was now accessible to us. Under the new covenant, we can run to the mercy seat!

But there is so much more to discover in this account of Mary's encounter with the risen Christ. John 20 can only be understood if you compare it with the story of the fall of man in Genesis 3. Notice the similarities:

1. There were two gardens. Man's fall occurred in the Garden of Eden—a place of intimate fellowship with God. After Adam and Eve disobeyed, the Lord cursed the ground and banished them from paradise. Yet on Easter Sunday, Christ appeared in a garden (see John 19:41) to remind us that now, because of His redemption, intimate fellowship with God is available again. He reopened the doors to Eden.

2. There were two women. Sin entered the world when a serpent deceived the first woman, Eve. But on Easter Sunday, after Christ had defeated Satan through His atoning death, He first appeared to a woman—one who had previously been in bondage to Satan's demons (Luke 8:2 says Jesus previously had cast seven demons out of her). Her life reminds us that Jesus offers us total deliverance from the bondage of our past.

3. There were two gardeners. In the story of the fall, Eve and her husband, Adam—the tender of Eden—rebelled against God after she was deceived. Yet on Easter morning, Mary Magdalene met a man outside the tomb whom she thought was the gardener. When she realized it was Jesus she exclaimed, "Rabboni!" and began to embrace Him. The woman in the second story is not with Adam; she is with Christ, "the last Adam." We now have this promise: "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive" (1 Cor. 15:22).

4. There were two sets of angels. After Adam and Eve fell into sin, God posted the cherubim with a flaming sword east of paradise to keep mankind out (see Gen. 3:24). Yet on Easter morning, the angels appeared in the garden not to banish man from God's presence but to invite us to behold the risen Messiah.

Why are there so many parallels in these two stories? The Holy Spirit wants us to know that in God's great plan of redemption He unraveled Eden's curse. The death and resurrection of Jesus brought a great reversal. While Genesis 3 brought pain, slavery to sin and alienation from God's presence, John 20 brought healing, deliverance and full restoration of fellowship with the Son of God.

As we celebrate Easter this weekend, I pray you will have a John 20 encounter. I challenge you to peer into the opened tomb and behold Him like you never have before. Remember: The stone has been rolled away. The angels now invite us to approach the mercy seat and behold the indescribable glory of our risen Savior.
J. Lee Grady served as editor of Charisma for 11 years and is now contributing editor. His new book, The Holy Spirit Is Not for Sale, is now in stores.

Get Real, Get Right, For the Next Generation!

Get Real, Get Right, For the Next Generation!
By Robert Ricciardelli www.vision2advance.com

What The Young Leaders of This Next Generation Need.

I was able to spend a weekend recently with a group of 92 men of valor. Their ages ranged from about 18- 70, and they represented more than 10 nations. It was a safe environment for all to come together in a deep relational way to discuss the issues of today, the church of today, and the direction we need to be moving towards for tomorrow.

I particularly took notice of the leaders in the generation that is coming up after me. They are passionate, and they are committed to living a life for God’s glory. They are radically in love with Jesus, and just as radical about changing the impotent ways of what they perceive about today’s Christianity. They want to be a part of birthing real communities that increasingly look more like family, and less like corporate America.

I also was amazed at how talented these young men were and how equally they were wrapped with humility. One has preached in over 450 cities around the world, and yet was amazed at Father’s continual use of Him. This young man has no formal Bible education, He just knows Jesus. He does not have degrees or pedigrees, but He is filled with the Spirit of God. Even at a young age, this man has been wrecked in a great way for the Kingdom of God.

Here are just a few of my take-aways from our time together…

They just want to be heard!
This generation carries a much-needed voice for today. We need to hear the sound of God through their perspective worldviews. They are not perfect, but are being perfected. They remind me of David’s 400 men, who all at some level had been marginalized or had lives of no reputation. The Holy Spirit inspired each of them for the King and the Kingdom, much like these young leaders of today.

Servant Leadership
This generation of leaders is not enamored by stardom, but by righteousness, authenticity, and humility towards God and mankind. Many of them commented that they do not look up to leaders who desire “Superstar Status”. They do not want to be viewed as merely armor bearers, because they have their own purpose, and want to engage in the battle. They want to walk beside those they can learn from, and fight alongside them the good fight of faith. They will serve leaders that seek to serve and not seek to be served.

Authentic Fathers
Many of these men are looking for fathers of the faith that will be real with them. They want dialogue, they want the truth expressed through real relationship, and not some religious hierarchical chain of command. They want leaders to answer questions that they may be afraid to ask. They desire intimacy with leaders who live transparent lives that manifest the idea, “Into me You See”

Kingdomized Gender Equality
The married men grasped the fact that their wives were partners in every possible way for the Kingdom. In some cases their wives might even have a greater public voice or influence than themselves, and they were okay with God’s will in such matters. John Wayne is not their hero, Jesus is, and Jesus gave women the right to be and to do all the things God may call a man to do. In the Kingdom of God there is no male or female, but obedience and recognition of each one’s calling and assignments. These men get this. The single men there are trusting God to reveal their partners one day, and have the heart to allow their partner to flourish in all the things of God.

Fearless
Another quality I observed was the amazing ability to honor those in authority, but with an incredible lack of fear towards men in authority. There was honor and yet little fear. One young man was also writing a biblical research paper to one of his mentors to challenge some paradigms and ways that may not be God’s best. They do not fear tomorrow. They are passionate about how the Father may use them to bring solutions to humanity in whatever part of the world the Lord sends them into.

Our Father is speaking to fathers
We all must do everything we can to embrace the young men and women who will lead the future generations. Some final thoughts:

* We must repent if we have gotten in God’s way in how we have related and imparted to them
* We must set a new course in how we relate with them going forward.
* God is making it clear that He only wants one Superstar, and that is His Son Jesus. All other Superstars, please step down. God has proven that He can make a way for you to step down if you need it, but please listen to His voice today and step down.
* Remove the fear of man from your life, ask the Lord and seek wise counsel if necessary.
* Have a righteous fear of God, and only obey His voice for the training of these young leaders.
* Ask the Lord for His perspectives regarding how you may be choosing those you are working with. Have you disregarded some based on human understanding?
* Do all for the glory of God and remove all hidden agenda’s.

The One Answer I Never Expected

The One Answer I Never Expected
By James Ryle www.truthworks.org

“All things work together for good for those who love God and are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

There was a question that had lingered for years in the back of my mind, and I knew that my father was the only person who could answer it. And when the opportunity came for me to ask him, his reply was the one answer I never expected.

Here is today’s excerpt out of Released From the Prison My Father Built.

“Dad, which prison were you in?”

“I was in the Central Unit,” he replied, unaware of all that was lingering behind my question. The moment I heard his answer my countenance dropped. It was not the same prison unit I had been in. I had thought for sure it was going to be the same, and had envisioned preaching rousing sermons about being in the same prison that your father was in; you know, the old “like father, like son” thing. But none of this mattered now. His answer changed all that.

“Which prison were you in?” he then asked me, not knowing how my mind was racing.

Somewhat dejected I replied, “I was in the Ferguson Unit, near Midway, Texas; just down a ways from Huntsville.”

My dad’s expression changed immediately. He went from being curious, to being stunned. His mouth dropped open, and he looked at me in disbelief. Gathering himself he then said the words that would forever mark my life.

“Dear God, son, I built that prison.”

“What?” I replied, “What do you mean, you built it?”

“They used prison labor to build the Ferguson Unit,” dad answered. “I was the welder on the work crew. I welded the bars when that prison was built.”

As dad’s words hung there in the air, the Lord Jesus spoke to my heart, “James, I have set you free from the prison your father built. Now I will use you to set others free from prisons their fathers have built. Go home to your friends and tell them what great things I have done. Tell them how all things work together for good for those who love Me and are called according to My purpose.”

My mind raced back over the years and grappled with the astounding thought that the Lord had somehow orchestrated this entire matter. No, He didn’t make my dad a robber, nor did He make me a drug dealer; and the tragic wreck wasn’t His doing, it was mine. And He didn’t want me to run away from the orphanage, but I did it anyway.

God does no evil to any man; rather, He is the God who works all things after the counsel of His will; the God who works all things – yes, even bad things – together for good for those who answer the call to His higher purpose for their lives. And He had been at work in my life all those years even though I didn’t know it.

I sat there amazed, and am still so to this very day. My father welded the bars of my prison. How extraordinary is that? From one point of view it is very extraordinary. I mean, what are the chances of that ever happening to anybody? Extraordinary indeed.

But, from another point of view it is rather ordinary; in fact, it is sadly common. Virtually everywhere in today’s world there are sons and daughters in prisons of one kind or another, which their fathers have built. Prisons of fear, addiction, rage, hatred, ignorance, shame, and confusion; just to name a few.

A dad mistreats or neglects a trusting child, and the strike upon that tender soul is as solid and lasting as the iron bars that were welded by the heat of my father’s torch. A cruel word spoken in anger, a nickname given in jest, a rebuke blurted out in public or a cold shoulder in time of need – these mindless acts of senseless dads forge the framework of solitary confinement for boys and girls the world over. And the vicious cycle repeats as these wounded children become broken parents with “welding torches” in their hands, passing on the torment to yet another generation of unsuspecting kids.

A father’s influence in his children’s lives is powerful and inevitable, whether for good or for bad. This fact has been repeated throughout history time and time again.” (Excerpt from pg.21-23, Released From the Prison My Father Built, James Ryle, 2010) Get Your Copy Today