Oceans Kingdom Encounter

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Mike Verkaik does a great job leading the Kingdom Encounters here on Oceans’ Campus. This team included 3 boys and 7 girls along with leaders Kelsey and Greg. It is a blessing to see each one impacted by serving, being surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation, and growing in their faith by experiencing other cultures.

A few students share their thoughts on their time here:

Church in Masiphumelele

Our first Sunday in Africa, as expected was a much different service than back home. The drive there we were all quiet as we took everything in. We drove down a very different part of town with people all over the roads, and with little markets and shacks made from whatever people could find. We parked the van and entered into a small white building where the church was held.There was music on full volume and people dancing up and down the aisles.  The service was around 3 hours long filled with singing, dancing, testimonies, and preachings.

Oceanview CareCentre

Today we woke up and had breakfast before heading off to the care center. For those who don’t know, Oceanview Care Center is a place where the kids can come to get away from their unique family situations. There we met Johann who told us a little about the Care Center, how it runs, and some of the stuff that they have gone through. After talking with Johann, we were assigned to classrooms. The classrooms are metal shipping containers with plastic chairs and tables in them. Throughout our day there, we were able to love on the kids and we were shown back a huge amount of love from them! You wouldn’t see many kids come running at a stranger in Michigan, but these kids sure did. I even got a kiss on my hand.

Prayer Meeting In Fish Hoek

After dinner we headed to a praise and prayer service at Overflow Church. This service began with worship music that was familiar to us.Then Pastor Ryan called our team up to be prayed over, but it was different than you would expect because he asked the congregation to pray to themselves to ask the Holy Spirit for guidance in what God was saying to them about us. After they were done praying, Pastor Ryan asked if anyone had something that the Holy Spirit was leading them to share with us, and many people from the congregation said many different things to several of us, which was very powerful.

Township of Jim Se Bos

Today we met Pastor Raymond and he shared how he started Love in Action ministry. In the township of Jim Se Bos I experienced so much. I saw all the joy these kids had and how happy they were even though they don’t  have much. It was hard to see the conditions they lived in with garbage everywhere, bathrooms consisting of buckets with maybe a little door hiding them. The kids were running around by themselves, and the buildings were not built of much. But it was also amazing to be at a this safe place where kids could come twice a day to get food and the love of Jesus and attend church on Sundays. I was glad we could provide, prepare and serve a meal to the people in this community.

Later in the evening during our “family time” where we share our “highs and lows” of the day our team reflected on what might happen if Pastor Raymond is unable to keep going into Jim Se Bos. It’s a daunting thought, because he brings THE LIght, and is the up-bringer of the next generation, truly a Kingdom Builder.  But then we were reminded that Pastor Raymond has a team who stands with him and is making  “disciples” who follow his every move and love the LORD with the same passion. Together they speak hope and change lives by their love in action. They feed the community and are celebrities for Jesus because of their generosity and genuine care.

Table Mountain

Over the last couple of days, we’ve seen and experienced a multitude of blessings and adversity. We have explored God’s wonderful creation through hiking Table Mountain, beautiful people, a vineyard, animals, and community.

Table Mountain was a grueling hike filled with many pauses and water breaks. As I reflected on the top, I realized that this was similar to the path that we find ourselves on in life. God puts us through challenges, and at the moment, it feels like your world might literally be ending. However, once we all made it to the top, we marveled in the glory that filled our sights over the Cape Town area. God has a plan for us and puts us through difficult things in order to get us to the view at the top. But after that, we headed back down on the gondola and entered back down to “regular life”. But the difficulties didn’t stop there. All of us carry baggage that is individual to each of us, and we were able to share that with one another.

Oceans Retreat Center

Our last night at ORC we took time to open our hearts to one another and share our “takeaways”, which is what we will take away from our time here and what we will bring back home with us. The theme of the night was thankfulness for the many many blessings that our Father has given to us. Experiencing and witnessing what life can be like here in South Africa was heartbreaking and inspiring. I can speak for everyone when I say that we are more grateful people because of the works done in us. We ended the night by taking Communion, which represented our bond as believers and resembled the early church after the Holy Spirit was given to them. Our mission is to share and proclaim the GOOD NEWS that we saw and heard here and to be changed by the grace of God.

Oceans Kingdom Encounter

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Mike Verkaik does a great job leading the Kingdom Encounters here on Oceans’ Campus. This team included 3 boys and 7 girls along with leaders Kelsey and Greg. It is a blessing to see each one impacted by serving, being surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation, and growing in their faith by experiencing other cultures.

A few students share their thoughts on their time here thus far:

Church in Masiphumelele

Today was our first Sunday in Africa, and as expected it was a much different service than back home. The drive there we were all quiet as we took everything in. We drove down a very different part of town with people all over the roads, and with little markets and shacks made from whatever people could find. We parked the van and entered into a small white building where the church was held.There was music on full volume and people dancing up and down the aisles. The service was around 3 hours long filled with singing, dancing, testimonies, and preachings.

Oceanview CareCentre

 

On Monday we woke up and had breakfast before heading off to the care center. For those who don’t know, Oceanview Care Center is a place where the kids can come to get away from their unique family situations. There we met Johann who told us a little about the Care Center, how it runs, and some of the stuff that they have gone through. After talking with Johann, we were assigned to classrooms. The classrooms are metal shipping containers with plastic chairs and tables in them. Throughout our day there, we were able to love on the kids and we were shown back a huge amount of love from them! You wouldn’t see many kids come running at a stranger in Michigan, but these kids sure did. I even got a kiss on my hand.

 

Prayer Meeting In Fish Hoek

After dinner we headed to a praise and prayer service at Overflow Church. This service began with worship music that was familiar to us. Then Pastor Ryan called our team up to be prayed over, but it was different than you would expect because he asked the congregation to pray to themselves to ask the Holy Spirit for guidance in what God was saying to them about us. After they were done praying, Pastor Ryan asked if anyone had something that the Holy Spirit was leading them to share with us, and many people from the congregation said many different things to several of us, which was very powerful.

Township of Jim Se Bos

Today we met Pastor Raymond and he shared how he started Love in Action ministry. In the township of Jim Se Bos I experienced so much. I saw all the joy these kids had and how happy they were even though they don’t have much. It was hard to see the conditions they lived in with garbage everywhere, bathrooms consisting of buckets with maybe a little door hiding them. The kids were running around by themselves, and the buildings were not built of much. But it was also amazing to be at a this safe place where kids could come twice a day to get food and the love of Jesus and attend church on  Sundays. I was glad we could provide, prepare and serve a meal to the people in this community.

Later in the evening during our “family time” where we share our “highs and lows” of the day our team reflected on what might happen if Pastor Raymond is unable to keep going into Jim Se Bos. It’s a daunting thought, because he brings THE LIght, and is the up-bringer of the next generation, truly a Kingdom Builder. But then we were reminded that Pastor Raymond has a team who stands with him and is making “disciples” who follow his every move and love the LORD with the same passion. Together they speak hope and change lives by their love in action. They feed the community and are celebrities for Jesus because of their generosity and genuine care.

Why I desperately need the Holy Spirit

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I hope you had a great Pentecost Sunday! When I was pastoring a church this Sunday was one of my favorite. I would make sure to be around for that Sunday to preach on the coming of the Holy Spirit from Acts 2 to share about how a group of weak followers of Jesus waited in prayer. Waited until they were anointed and filled to overflowing with the Fire of Heaven to represent His temple-which would fill all the earth with His glory.

I first realized the importance of the Holy Spirit when I was in my final semester of seminary. It was a cold rainy January in Southern California. I was in our apartment on a Monday morning trying to study but looking out the window thinking about how I wanted to quit school and give up on the calling into ministry. My head and been saturated with so much knowledge but my heart was a spiritual wasteland.

The next thing I remember I was kneeling by my bed soaking the cover with tears. My heart felt on fire as a weighty presence filled the room. I was never more aware of my sins and my brokenness and yet at the same time an overwhelming sense of love- love that washed away a boat load of sins and filled me with “a joy unspeakable and full of glory,” 1 Peter 1:8.

I spent the rest of the day in a sense of awe and praise for the gift which had been given so unexpectedly. I didn’t fully comprehend what had happened as nothing like this has been taught in our Theology classes so I kept this experience to myself. Then 2 weeks later a professors called out of the blue and asked if I would come to his house for lunch.

It was during that lunch I got up the nerve to share what had happened on that rainy day. He got up went to his office and came back with a book by Martyn Lloyd-Jones called “Joy Unspeakable – Power and Renewal in the Holy Spirit.” It would be a life changing conversation and read which would impact me for the rest of my life.

Both the encounter and the conversation taught me my absolute need to daily depend on the the power of the Holy Spirit for everything in life and in ministry. The Holy Spirit showed me the depths of my sin and weakness. It didn’t matter how well trained I was or how many gifts I had, I had nothing to offer anyone in and of myself. Yet, out of my weakness, out of my brokenness HIS LOVE could pour through revealing waves of His amazing grace.

I went from a “know-it-all seminary student” to an”infant” who needed constant care just to survive. That is why I love Pentecost so much. It reminds me of my absolute need to depend upon the Holy Spirit moment by moment.  My flesh is so weak. The powers of this world so strong. Without a daily filling of the Holy Spirit I simply won’t make.

I encourage you to read Acts 2 again in case you missed it on Sunday. The Father took a bunch of sinful and broken men and women and filled them with His presence and brought in a New Kingdom that is unstoppable. These followers of Jesus knew they leaked and so you see them again and again in the book of Acts asking for a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit.

I have learned over the years I leak a lot and I desperately need to be refilled over and over again by the Gift of the Father (Luke 11:9-13).

“Be filled continually with the Holy Spirit and your hearts will overflow with a joyful song to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:18-19.

“Always!”

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To me one of the greatest words in the Bible is the word, “always.”  I wonder how many times we can honestly use “always” to describe someone or something? The Britannica dictionary defines “always” to mean: at all times, on every occasion, in a way that does not change.  In our rapidly ever changing world where everything seems to be fluctuating, “always” is not a very relatable concept.

Yet, Jesus tells a group of fearful followers-just before He returns to His heavenly throne- to not worry about a thing because “I am with you always to the end of the age,” (Mt. 28:20).  What a promise, one that no one on earth could ever make. Yet, we can cling to the fact that Jesus promises to be with His beloved children, “at all times, on every occasion, in a way that does not change.”

Let that thought sink in. Right now wherever you may be reading this, take to heart that THE ONE who has “all authority over heaven and earth” (Mt. 28:18), is living in you and is all around you. Jesus promised His followers that once He took the throne next to His Father the Holy Spirit would come and make His home forever in the hearts of believers (John 14:23).

In this every changing world we live in-we desperately need to hold on to the fact that Jesus is “always” present in each of us. As I write this blog in Colorado He is in me and with me. When we get on a plane next week and take the grueling 16 hour flight He flies with us. “Always” means “always” and I thank God that He keeps every promise He makes sealed by Jesus’ perfect blood.

I don’t know about you but this word, “always” is precious to me and it is important for me to remind myself of this promise found throughout scripture. Our spiritual journey is not always easy and sometimes it may feel as if we spend more time walking through the “the valley of the shadow of death” than we do feasting at the banqueting table. But even in the valley we have the promise of a Good Shepherd who walks with us and more often than not carries us through, protecting us from all evil, so we do not need to fear today or what the future may hold.

When experiencing a valley it can seem at times we are all alone and the Shepherd so far away. And often it is during these moments that the crafty serpent comes and seeks to fill our heads with dark lies to destroy our spirits. This is when we need to shout out the word “Always!” and claim this powerful promise. We are never alone!  The King is in us and all around us we have nothing to fear.

The other night Patty and I were having dinner and I saw a few rain drops on the back porch. I glanced at the dark sky and right in the midst of it all was this brilliant double rainbow. What a gift! Rainbows have often appeared as a sign at different seasons in our lives. Once again we claimed God’s presence, which is always with us even we we feel alone. As we saw this double rainbow, we both broke out in song being reminded of the “always” promise.

This Sunday is  the glorious celebration of Pentecost! This day shouts out the reminder of the powerful coming of the Holy Spirit who constantly testifies to our spirits that Jesus is “always” with us.  I pray that today and every day you know and are reminded of the “always” promise.