Gathering to Dedicate the High School

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It is overwhelming to consider how the Sovereign Streams of God have flown together to begin the first Christian High School in Fish Hoek, South Africa starting on the Oceans campus in July. Someday I will explain the story in greater detail but it is truly a work only God could have brought about.

As we gathered together to worship, pray, and dedicate this new work to the LORD we were all in awe of how our Father moved to unite hearts in a supernatural way to make this a reality. For the last nine months many travailing prayers along with hours of intense work have birthed a vision to encourage young lives for generations to come.

We believe only God’s amazing sovereign hand could have brought this together we are placing all the needs, students that will come, staff, teachers, principal, yes all the details back in His firm grip knowing it will be by His grace and strength alone. Please join us in praying that a mighty move of His Spirit will continue to flow, lives will be changed, and His Kingdom will expand for His glorious name.

We want to thank so many of you for being a part of this new birth for Oceans Retreat Center, and this new season of ministry. We continue to hold on tightly in faith to the promise given in Hab. 2:14:

“The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea!!

 

Reminiscing About God’s Faithfulness to Oceans Ministries – Part 2

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We encounter the Kingdom of our Father when we give His love away!  We want to share a few stories with you of the blessings of letting Christ’s love flow through us.

John 13:34,35

“So I give you now a new commandment: Love each other just as much as I have loved you. For when you demonstrate the same love I have for you by loving one another, everyone will know that you’re my true followers.”

Click on the image below to watch the video, or click here!

 

 

 

Reminiscing About God’s Faithfulness to Oceans Ministries – Part 1

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“Give thanks to God, our King over all gods! His tender love for us continues on forever! Psalm 136:2

For the next few weeks Mike and I wanted to share some thoughts about God’s amazing faithfulness demonstrated over the 10 years of Oceans Ministries.

Thanks for listening, we hope it encourages you to trust in the Father’s great love and faithfulness to you!

Click on the image below to watch the video, or click here!

The River

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Growing up in Colorado some of my best memories were by the river. Hiking, rafting, fishing-even though rarely ever catching any-or just sitting by a river listening to the water crashing against the rocks. Idyllic. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why I love how The River represents a powerful move of God’s children in a supernatural way.

This past Sunday my wife and I were invited to be a part of a building dedication in the township of Jim se Bos. There are no natural rivers in the impoverished settlement, expect when it rains. Then water seeps through the dirt floors and floods the tin shacks.

The building we were worshiping in on Sunday used to be the community dump. We have a picture on our refrigerator of one of the teams Mike brought out from Michigan where we fed around 700 people with mounds of glass, bags, chicken bones and all sorts of trash surrounding the table from which we served.

Since that day a few years back a River of transformation has been taking place and it has become an unstoppable force bringing healing and life where ever it flows.

I couldn’t help but think how that River found its way into Jim se Bos, as place where most people in South Africa have never even heard of. Yet, on this particular Sunday, Pentecost Sunday, there we were singing, dancing, praising, and celebrating Christ the King in one of the most unlikely places.

Sunday I shared from John 7:37-39. These words of Jesus explain it all:

“On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘ If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink, Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams (literally Rivers) of living water will flow from within him. By this He meant the Spirit…”

In Jim se Bos the “thirst” is great. Poverty, fires, gangs, sexual abuse, all forms of addiction, the needs are endless. In the midst of the pain and heartache a small River started to flow out of hearts of love through Pastor Raymond, Pamela and the Love in Action team.

As homes were rebuilt after devastating fires-95 homes so far- weekly feedings started, children were clothed, a people who thought no one cared about them were seen, heard and loved. The River kept growing; people saw something they had never seen before. Hearts were opened and got a glimpse of a Savior. People started to jump into the River.

Being part of the River is not easy; it truly takes sacrificial love flowing from the Kingdom of heaven into weak hearts. But this past Sunday the River was flowing and the source of the River. The name of Jesus was exalted and praised with passion.

This River in Jim se Bos has made its way to other parts of the world; the US, Canada, Germany, New Zeeland, and other parts of Africa. Supernatural is the only way you can explain it.

At the end of the service there was an invitation for anyone who was thirsty to jump into The River, and guess what? The River widened as the front of the new building was filled with people looking to jump in the current of His love and forgiveness.

The challenge we walked away with from our experience Sunday is the reminder that our calling to BE The River, to be Jesus to a thirsty world. One act of kindness, a hug, a listening ear, a text of encouragement, a prayer of blessing for an enemy, forgiveness given to one who hurt you, any act of love can start The River flowing.

If you have been praying for, supporting Oceans or traveled to Fish Hoek you already are apart of The River in Jim se Bos. The world is in need of The River. Will you allow the love of Christ to flow in you and through where you live? Yes each one of us can be The River and point others to Jesus as the source of their hope and healing (Ez. 47 and Rev. 22).

 

10 Years – What a Father!

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I had to apologize to the mothers this past Sunday at the church where I was preaching, as the message  was not going to be a  typical Mother’s Day theme. Instead I wanted to share a scripture that still held a significant meaning for not just me but also my family.

You see, 10 years ago on Mother’s Day I shared with CrossPoint church in California, where I served, that we would be leaving to start a ministry called Oceans. On that day I also preached from Matthew 14:22-33, about Peter getting out of the boat to meet Jesus walking on the water in the midst of a storm.

All last week I was reflected on this passage and so then on Sunday I shared how over the last 10 years-and particularly  the last 4 ½ years living in Africa-I can relate to Peter who found himself sinking the moment he took His eyes off of Jesus. Covid, several literal storms that caused flooding on the campus, people issues, spiritual warfare, and Patty and I being separated from family and friends, would at times cause my eyes of faith to falter.

Yet, during those “drowning moments” the everlasting arms of the Father were ever present-grabbing us and pulling us out of despair and back into His ark of shalom. In the midst of moments of chaos He proved Himself always more than faithful.

You see this is the power of the Resurrection that I have been sharing in the last few blogs from John 20. The Resurrection tells us we are SEEN by the Father,  SOOTHED by HIS Spirit of love, SAFE because Jesus ascended and is the now reigning as King, and finally SECURE because God is our Father who will never let us go.

Remember this statement the resurrected Jesus says to Mary:

“Do not hold on to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to My brothers and tell them, “I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God,” vs.17.

Right there is the message of the Gospel and Jesus chose Mary to be the first to hear it. Jesus lived, died, rose from the dead, and ascended to the Father so that we can fully be restored to our Father. The work of Christ is to bring us into the arms of our Heavenly Father-who will never let us go (see. Jn. 10:28-29). This is where our true identity is found, this is how we find true security in an insecure world.

We can become SECURE when we know we are being held forever in the Father’s everlasting arms. Way back 2002 I was at the Pacific Ocean and wrote in my journal, “One day you will be apart of a ministry called Oceans, where you will make the love of the Father known, Hab. 2:14.”

Now 22 years later, in Fish Hoek, SA where two Oceans come together, I stand amazed and testify to a faithful, loving Father, who floods our spirits with a supernatural security that comes from His Spirit in us.

The Oceans board and team praise God for miracle after miracle of His provision, His power, and His perfect love for His precious children. Our insecure world’s greatest need is to come to know the everlasting love of the Father. A Father who SEES us perfect in Christ, SOOTHES us by His powerful Spirit, keeps us SAFE through Christ the King, and gives us our true identity as His sons and daughters as we are SECURE in His everlasting arms.

I hope you can shout with us, “WHAT A FATHER!