Monday, July 2, 2007
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Olya! Tack För att Du Finns!
Nu har min fru och jag inte sett varandra sedan den 12 januari. Först åkte jag iväg till Kina och när jag kom hem igen hade hon flugit till USA. Jag längtar efter henne så att det gör ont i kroppen.
Den 31 maj i år har vi varit gifta i 10 år!! Jag kan knappt tro att det är sant att det har gått 10 år sedan vi gick fram till altaret i Öjeby kyrka. Det känns egentligen som om det hände i går eftersom tiden går så fort när man har roligt.
Tänk att Gud gav mig den bästa fru som finns! Han är så god och nådefull.
Gud välsigna dig Olya, Det finns ingen som du. Jag älskar dig.
Din Patrik
Den 31 maj i år har vi varit gifta i 10 år!! Jag kan knappt tro att det är sant att det har gått 10 år sedan vi gick fram till altaret i Öjeby kyrka. Det känns egentligen som om det hände i går eftersom tiden går så fort när man har roligt.
Tänk att Gud gav mig den bästa fru som finns! Han är så god och nådefull.
Gud välsigna dig Olya, Det finns ingen som du. Jag älskar dig.
Din Patrik
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Do You Love Me?
Do You Love Me?
21:15 When they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these [others do--with reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father]? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You [that I have deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]. He said to him, Feed My lambs.
21:16 Again He said to him the second time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father]? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You [that I have a deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]. He said to him, Shepherd (tend) My sheep.
21:17 He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with a deep, instinctive, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend]? Peter was grieved (was saddened and hurt) that He should ask him the third time, Do you love Me? And he said to Him, Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You [that I have a deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep.
21:18 I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, when you were young you girded yourself [put on your own belt or girdle] and you walked about wherever you pleased to go. But when you grow old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will put a girdle around you and carry you where you do not wish to go.
21:19 He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God. And after this, He said to him, Follow Me! (AMP)
Did you notice that they use two different kinds of words for Love? Agape – outgiving and phileo – affection as for a close friend.
We know the history behind this story. We know that Peter denied Jesus three times. We also know that Peter went out and wept bitterly when he realized that he had denied his Lord. I think that Peter didn’t dare to use this word “agape” because he had let his Lord down. “Peter said later on, “Lord, You know everything”, you know that I love you. This is so true, Jesus knows everything. Jesus knew that Peter had failed, but He also knew what would become of Peter. Jesus didn’t look on what had happened but He looked on the future.
- Maybe you have failed, every one of us has. We shall not give up if we have, because Jesus doesn’t give up on us.
Peter repented and was forgiven. There was another man that denied Jesus that evening. But he didn’t follow Peter’s example. He didn’t know Jesus even if he had been together with Him for 3 years. He didn’t know that Jesus would forgive him if he asked Him, instead he took everything in his own hands and killed himself.
Jesus knew that Peter loved Him, He looked on his heart. Jesus received him and then He spoke prophetically into his life. Then He told him to “Follow Me!”
From this moment there was nothing that could make Peter denounce Jesus. He was following Him. Where Jesus went, Peter went, figuratively speaking. The only thing that meant something for Peter was to follow Jesus and to please Him with his life. “To please himself didn’t mean a thing to him any longer.”
He had made his choice. He was thrown into jail, he was tortured but counted that as a joy to suffer for the Name of Jesus. This was different from the old kind of Peter. According to the tradition we know that Peter’s love to Jesus made him a martyr. He died on a cross, but not as his Lord because he didn’t count himself worthy so he asked them to hang him upside down.
-Follow Me: Jesus calls us to follow Him. You become a Christian not because you come to the Church, you are saved because you confess Jesus as Lord in your life and believe in what He did for you on Calvary (Rom 10:9-10).
You shall not be someone that heats the church benches but you are a follower of Jesus, that follows Him wherever He goes. You have no right to say no because you gave Him the Lordship over your life. This Peter did – He gave his life over to Jesus whatever the cost.
This same question Jesus is asking us today, “Do we love Him?”
It doesn’t matter where you are today, what you have done. The only thing that matters if what your reply will be on this question. Will you love Him, if you will love Him you will dedicate everything to Him. You will belong to Him.
This kind of love is outgiving, and do not boast in itself, it doesn’t lift yourself up but lift others up. This kind of love is the only thing that can satisfy you. Money, power, ego will one day burn. But love is eternal.
John 15:10 If you keep My commandments [if you continue to obey My instructions], you will abide in My love {and} live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father's commandments and live on in His love.
Many of us fall in different kind of sins and the biggest reason for this is that we love the sin more than we love Jesus. The one we love we try to please.
Love is always shown by actions. True love to your spouse is often a decision we make, and it is the same with our love to Jesus. We will not feel this love every day, but we have to be faithful to the decision we already made. Every day we have to take our cross on us and follow Him. It has a price but this price is worthy to be paid.
- Love is not sympathy. Sympathy can look on the suffering, for example a man on the street without any home, that is digging in the garbage can. Sympathy will feel sorrow for him but do nothing to help him.
Sympathy can know about the state of the world: 23,000 Chinese are going into an eternity without God EVERY DAY even without having a chance to say yes or no to Jesus. Because there are to few people that have felt the right kind of love and do something to change their situation.
Matt 20:28 Just as the Son of Man came not to be waited on but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many [the price paid to set them free].
Love doesn’t seek to satisfy yourself. Love has a price. Jesus had to pay a price; they almost never left Him alone, there were always people around Him. To be able to be alone with His Father He had to go to the mountain in the nights to pray. But even during the nights people came to Him to talk (John 3).
John 13:15 For I have given you this as an example, so that you should do [in your turn] what I have done to you.
As I said earlier, love is always shown by actions. The Father’s love to mankind forced Him to send His Only Begotten Son so that He would die for you and me.
The love of Jesus forced Him even to the cross…where will your love to Jesus lead you?
Paul had met Jesus on the Road to Damascus. He was a pious man, a devout man of God. He had devoted himself to kill the Church. But there on the road he met Jesus, the One that he was persecuting. There on this road, he became a new man, everything was changed. Jesus touched him. From this day on, the direction of his life was changed. He started to follow Jesus.
Paul’s love to Jesus made him to throw all things that was something worth in the world; power, money, boast before people, he threw all this on the garbage because he had found something better.
But whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as [one combined] loss for Christ's sake.
Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord {and} of progressively becoming more deeply {and} intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One),
And that I may [actually] be found {and} known as in Him, not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law's demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired), but possessing that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One), the [truly] right standing with God, which comes from God by [saving] faith.
[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope] (Phil 3:7-10).
Everything had lost its worth to Paul and he was counting it as rubbish compared with Jesus. This rubbish didn’t longer satisfy him but it was only one thing that could fill that satisfaction and it was Christ and to know Him.
Paul’s love for Christ made him to lay down his life for other people, so that they also could get to know Him.
Acts 20:24 But {none of these things move me;} neither do I esteem my life dear to myself, if only I may finish my course {with joy} and the ministry which I have obtained from [which was entrusted to me by] the Lord Jesus, faithfully to attest to the good news (Gospel) of God's grace (His unmerited favor, spiritual blessing, and mercy).
This love and devotion to Jesus and the task made him to forget himself for something that was higher than himself. He was traveling from town to town and from country to country to preach the gospel of Jesus. He suffered persecution, torture and famine. They stoned him and he rose up and went back into the town. But this didn’t move him, he didn’t give up. He followed Jesus and was satisfied because he loved Jesus more than anything else in the world and he had submitted his life under him. This love and dedication took him according to the tradition to Rome where he was beheaded 62 or 64 after Christ.
He had finished his race that was set before him and received the crown of righteousness (2Tim 4:8).
What are you laying down your life for? Who or what do you love the most?
In Revelation chapter 3 Jesus is speaking to the church in Laodicea, He tells her that she is either cold not hot, but lukewarm. She thinks that she has everything and doesn’t need anything. She was satisfied – But Jesus said that she had to repent or else he would spit her out of His mouth.
Then Jesus is saying in verse 20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me.”
This is what Jesus is asking us today, “Do you love Me?” “Do you want to open up the door to your heart, into all your rooms and invite me to come in not only to the corridor but also to your living room and your bedroom.” “I want to have fellowship with you.”
What are you going to answer on these questions? Are you willing to give your everything to Him and follow Him. Dedicate your life exactly as Peter and Paul did?
GOD BLESS YOU!
21:15 When they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these [others do--with reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father]? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You [that I have deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]. He said to him, Feed My lambs.
21:16 Again He said to him the second time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father]? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You [that I have a deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]. He said to him, Shepherd (tend) My sheep.
21:17 He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with a deep, instinctive, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend]? Peter was grieved (was saddened and hurt) that He should ask him the third time, Do you love Me? And he said to Him, Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You [that I have a deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend]. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep.
21:18 I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, when you were young you girded yourself [put on your own belt or girdle] and you walked about wherever you pleased to go. But when you grow old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will put a girdle around you and carry you where you do not wish to go.
21:19 He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God. And after this, He said to him, Follow Me! (AMP)
Did you notice that they use two different kinds of words for Love? Agape – outgiving and phileo – affection as for a close friend.
We know the history behind this story. We know that Peter denied Jesus three times. We also know that Peter went out and wept bitterly when he realized that he had denied his Lord. I think that Peter didn’t dare to use this word “agape” because he had let his Lord down. “Peter said later on, “Lord, You know everything”, you know that I love you. This is so true, Jesus knows everything. Jesus knew that Peter had failed, but He also knew what would become of Peter. Jesus didn’t look on what had happened but He looked on the future.
- Maybe you have failed, every one of us has. We shall not give up if we have, because Jesus doesn’t give up on us.
Peter repented and was forgiven. There was another man that denied Jesus that evening. But he didn’t follow Peter’s example. He didn’t know Jesus even if he had been together with Him for 3 years. He didn’t know that Jesus would forgive him if he asked Him, instead he took everything in his own hands and killed himself.
Jesus knew that Peter loved Him, He looked on his heart. Jesus received him and then He spoke prophetically into his life. Then He told him to “Follow Me!”
From this moment there was nothing that could make Peter denounce Jesus. He was following Him. Where Jesus went, Peter went, figuratively speaking. The only thing that meant something for Peter was to follow Jesus and to please Him with his life. “To please himself didn’t mean a thing to him any longer.”
He had made his choice. He was thrown into jail, he was tortured but counted that as a joy to suffer for the Name of Jesus. This was different from the old kind of Peter. According to the tradition we know that Peter’s love to Jesus made him a martyr. He died on a cross, but not as his Lord because he didn’t count himself worthy so he asked them to hang him upside down.
-Follow Me: Jesus calls us to follow Him. You become a Christian not because you come to the Church, you are saved because you confess Jesus as Lord in your life and believe in what He did for you on Calvary (Rom 10:9-10).
You shall not be someone that heats the church benches but you are a follower of Jesus, that follows Him wherever He goes. You have no right to say no because you gave Him the Lordship over your life. This Peter did – He gave his life over to Jesus whatever the cost.
This same question Jesus is asking us today, “Do we love Him?”
It doesn’t matter where you are today, what you have done. The only thing that matters if what your reply will be on this question. Will you love Him, if you will love Him you will dedicate everything to Him. You will belong to Him.
This kind of love is outgiving, and do not boast in itself, it doesn’t lift yourself up but lift others up. This kind of love is the only thing that can satisfy you. Money, power, ego will one day burn. But love is eternal.
John 15:10 If you keep My commandments [if you continue to obey My instructions], you will abide in My love {and} live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father's commandments and live on in His love.
Many of us fall in different kind of sins and the biggest reason for this is that we love the sin more than we love Jesus. The one we love we try to please.
Love is always shown by actions. True love to your spouse is often a decision we make, and it is the same with our love to Jesus. We will not feel this love every day, but we have to be faithful to the decision we already made. Every day we have to take our cross on us and follow Him. It has a price but this price is worthy to be paid.
- Love is not sympathy. Sympathy can look on the suffering, for example a man on the street without any home, that is digging in the garbage can. Sympathy will feel sorrow for him but do nothing to help him.
Sympathy can know about the state of the world: 23,000 Chinese are going into an eternity without God EVERY DAY even without having a chance to say yes or no to Jesus. Because there are to few people that have felt the right kind of love and do something to change their situation.
Matt 20:28 Just as the Son of Man came not to be waited on but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many [the price paid to set them free].
Love doesn’t seek to satisfy yourself. Love has a price. Jesus had to pay a price; they almost never left Him alone, there were always people around Him. To be able to be alone with His Father He had to go to the mountain in the nights to pray. But even during the nights people came to Him to talk (John 3).
John 13:15 For I have given you this as an example, so that you should do [in your turn] what I have done to you.
As I said earlier, love is always shown by actions. The Father’s love to mankind forced Him to send His Only Begotten Son so that He would die for you and me.
The love of Jesus forced Him even to the cross…where will your love to Jesus lead you?
Paul had met Jesus on the Road to Damascus. He was a pious man, a devout man of God. He had devoted himself to kill the Church. But there on the road he met Jesus, the One that he was persecuting. There on this road, he became a new man, everything was changed. Jesus touched him. From this day on, the direction of his life was changed. He started to follow Jesus.
Paul’s love to Jesus made him to throw all things that was something worth in the world; power, money, boast before people, he threw all this on the garbage because he had found something better.
But whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as [one combined] loss for Christ's sake.
Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord {and} of progressively becoming more deeply {and} intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One),
And that I may [actually] be found {and} known as in Him, not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law's demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired), but possessing that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One), the [truly] right standing with God, which comes from God by [saving] faith.
[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope] (Phil 3:7-10).
Everything had lost its worth to Paul and he was counting it as rubbish compared with Jesus. This rubbish didn’t longer satisfy him but it was only one thing that could fill that satisfaction and it was Christ and to know Him.
Paul’s love for Christ made him to lay down his life for other people, so that they also could get to know Him.
Acts 20:24 But {none of these things move me;} neither do I esteem my life dear to myself, if only I may finish my course {with joy} and the ministry which I have obtained from [which was entrusted to me by] the Lord Jesus, faithfully to attest to the good news (Gospel) of God's grace (His unmerited favor, spiritual blessing, and mercy).
This love and devotion to Jesus and the task made him to forget himself for something that was higher than himself. He was traveling from town to town and from country to country to preach the gospel of Jesus. He suffered persecution, torture and famine. They stoned him and he rose up and went back into the town. But this didn’t move him, he didn’t give up. He followed Jesus and was satisfied because he loved Jesus more than anything else in the world and he had submitted his life under him. This love and dedication took him according to the tradition to Rome where he was beheaded 62 or 64 after Christ.
He had finished his race that was set before him and received the crown of righteousness (2Tim 4:8).
What are you laying down your life for? Who or what do you love the most?
In Revelation chapter 3 Jesus is speaking to the church in Laodicea, He tells her that she is either cold not hot, but lukewarm. She thinks that she has everything and doesn’t need anything. She was satisfied – But Jesus said that she had to repent or else he would spit her out of His mouth.
Then Jesus is saying in verse 20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me.”
This is what Jesus is asking us today, “Do you love Me?” “Do you want to open up the door to your heart, into all your rooms and invite me to come in not only to the corridor but also to your living room and your bedroom.” “I want to have fellowship with you.”
What are you going to answer on these questions? Are you willing to give your everything to Him and follow Him. Dedicate your life exactly as Peter and Paul did?
GOD BLESS YOU!
Jesus Står Vid Dörren....
Kol 2:6-8 "Liksom ni tog emot Kristus Jesus som Herren, så lev i honom och låt er rotas och uppbyggas i honom och befästas i tron i enlighet med den undervisning ni fått, och överflöda i tacksägelse. Se till att ingen rövar bort er med sin tomma och bedrägliga filosofi, byggd på mänskliga traditioner och stadgar och inte på Kristus."
Här skriver Paulus till de heliga i Kolosse. Att vara en kristen betyder att vi ska ständigt växa i tron. Det betyder att vi ska ständigt längta och söka efter att lära känna Herren mer.
Paulus säger i Filipper brevet, "Men allt det som var en vinst för mig räknar jag nu som förlust för Kristi skull. Ja, jag räknar allt som förlust, därför att jag har funnit det som är långt mer värt: kunskapen om Kristus Jesus, min Herre. För hans skull har jag förlorat allt och räknar det som avskräde för att jag skall vinna Kristus och bli funnen i honom, inte med min egen rättfärdighet, den som kommer genom lagen, utan med den som kommer genom tro på Kristus, rättfärdigheten fron Gud genom tron" (Fil 3:7-9).
Allt det som var en vinst för Paulus räknade han som en förlust. Prestige, mänskligt beröm, karriär, att vara något i det "religiösa etablissemanget" betydde inget för Paulus efter det att han hade mött Jesus på vägen till Damaskus (Apg 9). Där hade hans liv blivit förvandlat. Nu hade något annat fått ta över första platsen i hans liv.
"Men jag anser inte att mitt liv har något värde för mig själv. Jag vill endast fullborda mitt lopp och den uppgift som jag har fått av Herren Jesus: att vittna om Guds nåderika evangelium (Apg 20:24).
Det som låg högst upp på Jesu hjärta blev ett med Paulus. Låt mig fråga dig vad du tror ligger högst upp på Guds hjärta?
....människor....
Gud älskar människan så mycket att Han sände Sin Enfödde Son för att människan inte skulle gå under.
Detta hade fått grepp om Paulus. Från den stund han fick möta den Uppståndne Kristus där på vägen bytte han färdriktning. Före detta hade han förföljt församlingen och hade gjort allting för att ta död på den. Men när han mötte Kristus så frågade han direkt "vad vill du jag ska göra?" (Apg 22:10).
Från den stund började han predika Kristus för folket. Han visste vad Gud hade kallat honom till och han gjorde allting för att behaga Honom. Inget kunde stoppa honom från detta uppdrag. Han blev stenad, utsatt för gisselslag, kastad i fängelse, hans egna team medlemmar övergav honom, men han gav inte upp. Han kämpade in i det sista. Han fullbordade sitt lopp, och vann sin segerkrans. Vi vet att traditionen säger att Paulus blev halshuggen i Rom av Nero 62 eller 64 e. Kr.
Vad fick Paulus att fullborda loppet? Att hålla ut under alla svårigheter? Jag tror att det är vad vi läser i Kolosser brevet och Filippus brevet som är grunden för detta. Han hade överlåtit allt till Jesus för att han skulle lära känna Honom, han levde i Kristus och var rotad i Honom. Han kastades inte hit och dit av varje vindkast i läran utan höll sig hela tiden fräsch.
Gemenskapen med Kristus höll Paulus fräsch. Jesus talar till de olika församlingarna i Uppenbarelseboken. Där säger Han till församlingen i Laodicea: "Jag känner dina gärningar (så de hade gärningar). Du är varken kall eller varm. Jag skulle önska att du vore kall eller varm. Men eftersom du är ljum och varken varm eller kall, skall jag spy ut dig ur min mun" (Upp 3:16).
"Jag skulle önska att du vore kall eller varm...." Kan ni skönja Jesu kärlek och omsorg här? Ibland är det lätt att komma in i rutiner i sitt kristna liv. Allt man gör blir till ett mönster. Och så kommer man till den dan när man ser bakåt och undrar "vart tog min första kärlek till Jesus vägen?" Lite längre ner i vers 20 i samma kapitel står det "Se, jag står vid dörren och klappar på. Om någon hör min röst och öppnar dörren, skall jag gå in till honom och hålla måltid med honom och han med mig."
Detta säger Han till församlingen, inte till de som inte känner Honom. Om det är så att du har tappat din första kärlek till Jesus så var vid gott mod! Jesus står vid dörren idag och klappar på, till den som öppnar ska Han komma in.
Paulus höll sig fräsch hela tiden eftersom han vandrade i Kristus. Hans liv var Kristus. Det fanns INGET ANNAT som tog första platsen i hans liv. Han kände Kristus eftersom han spenderade tid med honom. Eftersom han levde så nära Kristus så fick han andra prioriteringar. Han levde inte längre för sig själv, utan för att se Kristus predikas bland dem som aldrig hade hört evangelium.
Låt oss idag överlåta oss till Kristus. Kanske detta är första gången för dig att lämna dig till Honom eller kanske du gjorde detta för ett antal år sedan. Men slentrian och felaktiga prioriteringar har tagit överhanden. Du lever inte längre för Honom utan bara för att tillfredställa dina egna behov och önskningar. Då är det dags att överlåta sig själv till Honom igen så att Han får möta dig och förvandla dig som Han förvandlade Paulus.
Om du gör detta så kommer riktig tillfredställelse att komma över ditt liv, jag lovar. Om du och jag gör detta så kommer inte bara Sverige att förvandlas men också resten av denna värld. Eftersom vi då kommer att fullgöra Jesu befallning att gå ut i hela världen och predika evangelium till ALLA FOLK!
Här skriver Paulus till de heliga i Kolosse. Att vara en kristen betyder att vi ska ständigt växa i tron. Det betyder att vi ska ständigt längta och söka efter att lära känna Herren mer.
Paulus säger i Filipper brevet, "Men allt det som var en vinst för mig räknar jag nu som förlust för Kristi skull. Ja, jag räknar allt som förlust, därför att jag har funnit det som är långt mer värt: kunskapen om Kristus Jesus, min Herre. För hans skull har jag förlorat allt och räknar det som avskräde för att jag skall vinna Kristus och bli funnen i honom, inte med min egen rättfärdighet, den som kommer genom lagen, utan med den som kommer genom tro på Kristus, rättfärdigheten fron Gud genom tron" (Fil 3:7-9).
Allt det som var en vinst för Paulus räknade han som en förlust. Prestige, mänskligt beröm, karriär, att vara något i det "religiösa etablissemanget" betydde inget för Paulus efter det att han hade mött Jesus på vägen till Damaskus (Apg 9). Där hade hans liv blivit förvandlat. Nu hade något annat fått ta över första platsen i hans liv.
"Men jag anser inte att mitt liv har något värde för mig själv. Jag vill endast fullborda mitt lopp och den uppgift som jag har fått av Herren Jesus: att vittna om Guds nåderika evangelium (Apg 20:24).
Det som låg högst upp på Jesu hjärta blev ett med Paulus. Låt mig fråga dig vad du tror ligger högst upp på Guds hjärta?
....människor....
Gud älskar människan så mycket att Han sände Sin Enfödde Son för att människan inte skulle gå under.
Detta hade fått grepp om Paulus. Från den stund han fick möta den Uppståndne Kristus där på vägen bytte han färdriktning. Före detta hade han förföljt församlingen och hade gjort allting för att ta död på den. Men när han mötte Kristus så frågade han direkt "vad vill du jag ska göra?" (Apg 22:10).
Från den stund började han predika Kristus för folket. Han visste vad Gud hade kallat honom till och han gjorde allting för att behaga Honom. Inget kunde stoppa honom från detta uppdrag. Han blev stenad, utsatt för gisselslag, kastad i fängelse, hans egna team medlemmar övergav honom, men han gav inte upp. Han kämpade in i det sista. Han fullbordade sitt lopp, och vann sin segerkrans. Vi vet att traditionen säger att Paulus blev halshuggen i Rom av Nero 62 eller 64 e. Kr.
Vad fick Paulus att fullborda loppet? Att hålla ut under alla svårigheter? Jag tror att det är vad vi läser i Kolosser brevet och Filippus brevet som är grunden för detta. Han hade överlåtit allt till Jesus för att han skulle lära känna Honom, han levde i Kristus och var rotad i Honom. Han kastades inte hit och dit av varje vindkast i läran utan höll sig hela tiden fräsch.
Gemenskapen med Kristus höll Paulus fräsch. Jesus talar till de olika församlingarna i Uppenbarelseboken. Där säger Han till församlingen i Laodicea: "Jag känner dina gärningar (så de hade gärningar). Du är varken kall eller varm. Jag skulle önska att du vore kall eller varm. Men eftersom du är ljum och varken varm eller kall, skall jag spy ut dig ur min mun" (Upp 3:16).
"Jag skulle önska att du vore kall eller varm...." Kan ni skönja Jesu kärlek och omsorg här? Ibland är det lätt att komma in i rutiner i sitt kristna liv. Allt man gör blir till ett mönster. Och så kommer man till den dan när man ser bakåt och undrar "vart tog min första kärlek till Jesus vägen?" Lite längre ner i vers 20 i samma kapitel står det "Se, jag står vid dörren och klappar på. Om någon hör min röst och öppnar dörren, skall jag gå in till honom och hålla måltid med honom och han med mig."
Detta säger Han till församlingen, inte till de som inte känner Honom. Om det är så att du har tappat din första kärlek till Jesus så var vid gott mod! Jesus står vid dörren idag och klappar på, till den som öppnar ska Han komma in.
Paulus höll sig fräsch hela tiden eftersom han vandrade i Kristus. Hans liv var Kristus. Det fanns INGET ANNAT som tog första platsen i hans liv. Han kände Kristus eftersom han spenderade tid med honom. Eftersom han levde så nära Kristus så fick han andra prioriteringar. Han levde inte längre för sig själv, utan för att se Kristus predikas bland dem som aldrig hade hört evangelium.
Låt oss idag överlåta oss till Kristus. Kanske detta är första gången för dig att lämna dig till Honom eller kanske du gjorde detta för ett antal år sedan. Men slentrian och felaktiga prioriteringar har tagit överhanden. Du lever inte längre för Honom utan bara för att tillfredställa dina egna behov och önskningar. Då är det dags att överlåta sig själv till Honom igen så att Han får möta dig och förvandla dig som Han förvandlade Paulus.
Om du gör detta så kommer riktig tillfredställelse att komma över ditt liv, jag lovar. Om du och jag gör detta så kommer inte bara Sverige att förvandlas men också resten av denna värld. Eftersom vi då kommer att fullgöra Jesu befallning att gå ut i hela världen och predika evangelium till ALLA FOLK!
Monday, January 29, 2007
Less!
Jag är så less!! Söker man Ulf Ekman på en sökmotor så får man fram hundratals sidor där det talas om honom. Självklart att det för det mesta är negativa saker. Jag förstår ifall det är människor som inte är bekännande kristna som skriver alla dessa negativa saker emot honom och Livets Ord. Men ofta, ja ofta, är det kristna som skriver och det är inte snälla saker man skriver om honom utan ofta är det mer fråga om väldigt hårda och grova anklagelser än uppbyggande läsning.
För några år sedan höll jag på med att vara på Dagens debatt sida på Internet. Där debatterades det flitigt om Livets Ord och Ulf Ekman. Som tur var stängdes detta debatt ämne ner efter ett tag. Men tror ni inte att de som ville debattera om LO eller Ulf kunde fortsätta iaf, utifrån vilket ämne som helst. Det kunde vara om "friskolans vara eller inte vara" eller om "homosexualitet", men ofta så handlade det inte om en debatt om kring dessa ämnen utan istället började man att utifrån själva ämnet svartmåla LO och Ulf E. Ofta var det tre speciella personer som skrev på denna debatt sida. Skrev man något för att försöka tona ner svartmålandet av LO så var man "hård och kärlekslös" och "dömande".
Jag tycker att det är så fruktansvärt mycket struntprat som många kristna håller på med. De bygger sina liv på att försöka svärta ner vissa samfund eller personer bara för att man inte tror precis som de. Jesus sade att vi ska "gå ut och predika evangelium". Detta är vad som är viktigt.
Djävulen håller på att skratta på sig när han ser på oss. Han har fått oss precis dit han vill. Istället för att vara upptagna med att sprida evangelium till alla människor så är vi upptagna med att prata struntprat mot varandra. Och säg inte, "ja men jag försöker rädda folk från att gå med i LO."
För min del är jag inte medlem i LO men jag älskar den församlingen. Jag bor i Ryssland och har gjort så i några år. Fråga en människa här vad han vet om Sverige så är det några saker som han säger, Fotboll, ishockey, IKEA och Ulf Ekman. Livets Ord har ett otroligt gott vittnesbörd om sig här. Och jag vet att det är likadant överallt i alla de länder som de har missionsarbete. De har faktiskt gjort något som kommer att räknas till historien.
Det finns många samfund och missionsorganisationer runt om i världen. Det finns många som har gjort ett väldigt gott arbete. I Sverige finns det också många bra små missionsorganisationer. Men de som jag ser upp till mest i Sverige är Ljus i Öster och LO. Ljus i Öster har funnits i över 100 år och har behållit den glöd och iver för mission. De gör ett otroligt bra arbete i forna Sovjet men också i Kina. Sedan LO, de har inte funnits så länge, men de har redan arbete i Ryssland, Östeuropa, Kina, Central Asien och andra länder. Dessa människor måste vi se upp till inte prata illa om. Vi är ju faktiskt även om du inte tror det, en familj. När Jesus kommer tillbaks och hämtar oss kommer vi inte att vara i olika fållor beroende på vilka samfund vi har tillhört här utan vi är Kristi församling och kommer att spendera en evighet tillsammans.
Låt oss istället för att slå ner på varandra, bygga upp varandra och hålla på med det som Jesus kallat oss till: att vinna världen för Kristus!
För några år sedan höll jag på med att vara på Dagens debatt sida på Internet. Där debatterades det flitigt om Livets Ord och Ulf Ekman. Som tur var stängdes detta debatt ämne ner efter ett tag. Men tror ni inte att de som ville debattera om LO eller Ulf kunde fortsätta iaf, utifrån vilket ämne som helst. Det kunde vara om "friskolans vara eller inte vara" eller om "homosexualitet", men ofta så handlade det inte om en debatt om kring dessa ämnen utan istället började man att utifrån själva ämnet svartmåla LO och Ulf E. Ofta var det tre speciella personer som skrev på denna debatt sida. Skrev man något för att försöka tona ner svartmålandet av LO så var man "hård och kärlekslös" och "dömande".
Jag tycker att det är så fruktansvärt mycket struntprat som många kristna håller på med. De bygger sina liv på att försöka svärta ner vissa samfund eller personer bara för att man inte tror precis som de. Jesus sade att vi ska "gå ut och predika evangelium". Detta är vad som är viktigt.
Djävulen håller på att skratta på sig när han ser på oss. Han har fått oss precis dit han vill. Istället för att vara upptagna med att sprida evangelium till alla människor så är vi upptagna med att prata struntprat mot varandra. Och säg inte, "ja men jag försöker rädda folk från att gå med i LO."
För min del är jag inte medlem i LO men jag älskar den församlingen. Jag bor i Ryssland och har gjort så i några år. Fråga en människa här vad han vet om Sverige så är det några saker som han säger, Fotboll, ishockey, IKEA och Ulf Ekman. Livets Ord har ett otroligt gott vittnesbörd om sig här. Och jag vet att det är likadant överallt i alla de länder som de har missionsarbete. De har faktiskt gjort något som kommer att räknas till historien.
Det finns många samfund och missionsorganisationer runt om i världen. Det finns många som har gjort ett väldigt gott arbete. I Sverige finns det också många bra små missionsorganisationer. Men de som jag ser upp till mest i Sverige är Ljus i Öster och LO. Ljus i Öster har funnits i över 100 år och har behållit den glöd och iver för mission. De gör ett otroligt bra arbete i forna Sovjet men också i Kina. Sedan LO, de har inte funnits så länge, men de har redan arbete i Ryssland, Östeuropa, Kina, Central Asien och andra länder. Dessa människor måste vi se upp till inte prata illa om. Vi är ju faktiskt även om du inte tror det, en familj. När Jesus kommer tillbaks och hämtar oss kommer vi inte att vara i olika fållor beroende på vilka samfund vi har tillhört här utan vi är Kristi församling och kommer att spendera en evighet tillsammans.
Låt oss istället för att slå ner på varandra, bygga upp varandra och hålla på med det som Jesus kallat oss till: att vinna världen för Kristus!
Sunday, January 28, 2007
70 World Christian Quotes
"I have seen, at different times, the smoke of a thousand villages - villages whose people are without Christ, without God, and without hope in the world."
- Robert Moffat
"The command has been to "go," but we have stayed - in body, gifts, prayer and influence. He has asked us to be witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth…But 99% of Christians have kept puttering around in the homeland."
- Robert Savage
"While vast continents are shrouded in darkness…the burden of proof lies upon you to show that the circumstances in which God has placed you were meant by God to keep you out of the foreign mission field."
- Ion Keith-Falconer
"I wasn't God's first choice for what I've done for China…I don't know who it was…It must have been a man…a well-educated man. I don't know what happened. Perhaps he died. Perhaps he wasn't willing…and God looked down…and saw Gladys Aylward…And God said - "Well, she's willing."
- Gladys Aylward
"Brother, if you would enter that Province, you must go forward on your knees."
- J. Hudson Taylor
"The man…looking at him with a smile that only half concealed his contempt, inquired, "Now Mr. Morrison do you really expect that you will make an impression on the idolatry of the Chinese Empire?" "No sir," said Morrison, "but I expect that God will."
- Robert Morrison
"Here am I. Send me."
- Isaiah
"And people who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives…and when the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted."
- Nate Saint
"Jehovah Witnesses don't believe in hell and neither do most Christians"
- Leonard Ravenhill
"Had I cared for the comments of people, I should never have been a missionary."
- C.T. Studd
"Young man, sit down: when God pleases to convert the heathen, he will do it without your aid or mine."
- said to a young William Carey
"Oh, that I had a thousand lives, and a thousand bodies! All of them should be devoted to no other employment but to preach Christ to these degraded, despised, yet beloved mortals."
- Robert Moffat
"We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God."
- John Stott
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
- Jim Elliot
"A tiny group of believers who have the gospel keep mumbling it over and over to themselves. Meanwhile, millions who have never heard it once fall into the flames of eternal hell without ever hearing the salvation story."
- K.P. Yohannan
"I have but one passion - it is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ."
- Count Zinzindorf
"God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supplies."
- J. Hudson Taylor
"He must increase, but I must decrease."
- John the Baptist
"If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him."
- C.T. Studd
"The greatest missionary is the Bible in the mother tongue. It needs no furlough and is never considered a foreigner."
- William Cameron Townsend
"Prepare for the worst, expect the best, and take what comes."
- Robert E. Speer
"The saddest thing one meets is a nominal Christian. I had not seen it in Japan where missions is younger. The church here is a "field full of wheat and tares."
- Amy Carmichael
"I used to think that prayer should have the first place and teaching the second. I now feel it would be truer to give prayer the first, second and third places and teaching the fourth."
- James O. Fraser
"It is just as proper, maybe even more so, to say Christ's global cause has a Church as to say Christ's Church has a global cause."
- David Bryant
"If you are sick, fast and pray; if the language is hard to learn, fast and pray; if the people will not hear you, fast and pray, if you have nothing to eat, fast and pray."
- Frederick Franson
"What are we here for, to have a good time with Christians or to save sinners?"
- Malla Moe
"I tell you, brethren, if mercies and if judgments do not convert you, God has no other arrows in His quiver."
- Robert Murray M'Cheyne
"It's amazing what can be accomplished if you don't worry about who gets the credit."
- Clarence W. Jones
"Two distinguishing marks of the early church were: 1) Poverty 2) Power."
- T.J. Bach
"Do not think me mad. It is not to make money that I believe a Christian should live. The noblest thing a man can do is, just humbly to receive, and then go amongst others and give."
- David Livingstone
"From my many years experience I can unhesitatingly say that the cross bears those who bear the cross."
- Sadhu Sundar Singh
"I pray that no missionary will ever be as lonely as I have been."
- Lottie Moon
"All my friends are but one, but He is all sufficient."
- William Carey
"How little chance the Holy Ghost has nowadays. The churches and missionary societies have so bound him in red tape that they practically ask Him to sit in a corner while they do the work themselves."
- C.T. Studd
"I have always believed that the Good Samaritan went across the road to the wounded man just because he wanted to."
- Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
"The more obstacles you have, the more opportunities there are for God to do something."
- Clarence W. Jones
"Expect great things from God. Attempt great thing for God."
- William Carey
"God's part is to put forth power; our part is to put forth faith."
- Andrew A. Bonar
"All the resources of the Godhead are at our disposal!"
- Jonathan Goforth
"The Indian is making an amazing discovery, namely that Christianity and Jesus are not the same - that they may have Jesus without the system that has been built up around Him in the West."
- E. Stanley Jones
"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come."
- Jesus
"All roads lead to the judgment seat of Christ."
- Keith Green
"Christians don't tell lies they just go to church and sing them"
- A.W. Tozer
"I will lay my bones by the Ganges that India might know there is one who cares."
- Alexander Duff
"Today Christians spend more money on dog food then missions"
- Leonard Ravenhill
"It will not do to say that you have no special call to go to China. With these facts before you and with the command of the Lord Jesus to go and preach the gospel to every creature, you need rather to ascertain whether you have a special call to stay at home."
- J. Hudson Taylor
"We talk of the second coming, half the world has never heard of the first."
- Oswald J. Smith
"God cannot lead you on the basis of facts that you do not know."
- David Bryant
"And thus I aspire to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named so that I would not build on another man's foundation."
- Paul
"Why do we insist on building the largest and most impressive structures in our city when people on the other side of town are hungry, jobless and worshipping in storefronts?"
- K.P. Yohannan
"If every Christian is already considered a missionary, then all can stay put where they are, and nobody needs to get up and go anywhere to preach the gospel. But if our only concern is to witness where we are, how will people in unevangelized areas ever hear the gospel? The present uneven distribution of Christians and opportunities to hear the gospel of Christ will continue on unchanged."
- C. Gordon Olson
"I spent twenty years of my life trying to recruit people out of local churches and into missions structures so that they could be involved in fulfilling God's global mission. Now I have another idea. Let's take God's global mission and put it right in the middle of the local church!"
- George Miley
"Oh dear, I couldn't say that my church is alive and I wouldn't want to call it dead. I guess it's just walking in its sleep!"
- Church member
"When he landed in 1848 there were no Christians here; when he left in 1872 there were no heathen."
- said of John Geddie
"At the moment I put the bread and wine into those dark hands, once stained with the blood of cannibalism, now stretched out to receive and partake the emblems and seals of the Redeemer's love, I had a foretaste of the joy of glory that well nigh broke my heart to pieces. I shall never taste a deeper bliss, till I gaze on the glorified face of Jesus himself."
- John G. Paton
"Save others, snatching them out of the fire."
- Jude
"The evangelization of the world in this generation."
- Student Volunteer Movement Motto
"Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring"
- Jesus
"Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't."
- John Piper
"His authority on earth allows us to dare to go to all the nations. His authority in heaven gives us our only hope of success. And His presence with us leaves us no other choice."
- John Stott
"Today five out of six non-Christians in our world have no hope unless missionaries come to them and plant the church among them."
- David Bryant
"Tell the students to give up their small ambitions and come eastward to preach the gospel of Christ."
- Francis Xavier
"Christ for the students of the world, and the students of the world for Christ."
- Luther Wishard
"We who have Christ's eternal life need to throw away our own lives."
- George Verwer
"Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell, I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell."
- C.T. Studd
"When I get to China, I will have no claim on any one for anything. My claim will be alone in God and I must learn before I leave England to move men through God by prayer alone"
- J. Hudson Taylor
"God has huge plans for the world today! He is not content to merely establish a handful of struggling churches among each tongue, tribe and nation. Even now He is preparing and empowering His Church to carry the seeds of revival to the uttermost ends of the earth."
- David Smithers
"The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity."
- Mike Stachura
"Answering a student's question, 'Will the heathen who have not heard the Gospel be saved?' thus, 'It is more a question with me whether we who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not, can be saved.'"
- C.H. Spurgeon.
- Robert Moffat
"The command has been to "go," but we have stayed - in body, gifts, prayer and influence. He has asked us to be witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth…But 99% of Christians have kept puttering around in the homeland."
- Robert Savage
"While vast continents are shrouded in darkness…the burden of proof lies upon you to show that the circumstances in which God has placed you were meant by God to keep you out of the foreign mission field."
- Ion Keith-Falconer
"I wasn't God's first choice for what I've done for China…I don't know who it was…It must have been a man…a well-educated man. I don't know what happened. Perhaps he died. Perhaps he wasn't willing…and God looked down…and saw Gladys Aylward…And God said - "Well, she's willing."
- Gladys Aylward
"Brother, if you would enter that Province, you must go forward on your knees."
- J. Hudson Taylor
"The man…looking at him with a smile that only half concealed his contempt, inquired, "Now Mr. Morrison do you really expect that you will make an impression on the idolatry of the Chinese Empire?" "No sir," said Morrison, "but I expect that God will."
- Robert Morrison
"Here am I. Send me."
- Isaiah
"And people who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives…and when the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted."
- Nate Saint
"Jehovah Witnesses don't believe in hell and neither do most Christians"
- Leonard Ravenhill
"Had I cared for the comments of people, I should never have been a missionary."
- C.T. Studd
"Young man, sit down: when God pleases to convert the heathen, he will do it without your aid or mine."
- said to a young William Carey
"Oh, that I had a thousand lives, and a thousand bodies! All of them should be devoted to no other employment but to preach Christ to these degraded, despised, yet beloved mortals."
- Robert Moffat
"We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God."
- John Stott
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
- Jim Elliot
"A tiny group of believers who have the gospel keep mumbling it over and over to themselves. Meanwhile, millions who have never heard it once fall into the flames of eternal hell without ever hearing the salvation story."
- K.P. Yohannan
"I have but one passion - it is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ."
- Count Zinzindorf
"God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supplies."
- J. Hudson Taylor
"He must increase, but I must decrease."
- John the Baptist
"If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him."
- C.T. Studd
"The greatest missionary is the Bible in the mother tongue. It needs no furlough and is never considered a foreigner."
- William Cameron Townsend
"Prepare for the worst, expect the best, and take what comes."
- Robert E. Speer
"The saddest thing one meets is a nominal Christian. I had not seen it in Japan where missions is younger. The church here is a "field full of wheat and tares."
- Amy Carmichael
"I used to think that prayer should have the first place and teaching the second. I now feel it would be truer to give prayer the first, second and third places and teaching the fourth."
- James O. Fraser
"It is just as proper, maybe even more so, to say Christ's global cause has a Church as to say Christ's Church has a global cause."
- David Bryant
"If you are sick, fast and pray; if the language is hard to learn, fast and pray; if the people will not hear you, fast and pray, if you have nothing to eat, fast and pray."
- Frederick Franson
"What are we here for, to have a good time with Christians or to save sinners?"
- Malla Moe
"I tell you, brethren, if mercies and if judgments do not convert you, God has no other arrows in His quiver."
- Robert Murray M'Cheyne
"It's amazing what can be accomplished if you don't worry about who gets the credit."
- Clarence W. Jones
"Two distinguishing marks of the early church were: 1) Poverty 2) Power."
- T.J. Bach
"Do not think me mad. It is not to make money that I believe a Christian should live. The noblest thing a man can do is, just humbly to receive, and then go amongst others and give."
- David Livingstone
"From my many years experience I can unhesitatingly say that the cross bears those who bear the cross."
- Sadhu Sundar Singh
"I pray that no missionary will ever be as lonely as I have been."
- Lottie Moon
"All my friends are but one, but He is all sufficient."
- William Carey
"How little chance the Holy Ghost has nowadays. The churches and missionary societies have so bound him in red tape that they practically ask Him to sit in a corner while they do the work themselves."
- C.T. Studd
"I have always believed that the Good Samaritan went across the road to the wounded man just because he wanted to."
- Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
"The more obstacles you have, the more opportunities there are for God to do something."
- Clarence W. Jones
"Expect great things from God. Attempt great thing for God."
- William Carey
"God's part is to put forth power; our part is to put forth faith."
- Andrew A. Bonar
"All the resources of the Godhead are at our disposal!"
- Jonathan Goforth
"The Indian is making an amazing discovery, namely that Christianity and Jesus are not the same - that they may have Jesus without the system that has been built up around Him in the West."
- E. Stanley Jones
"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come."
- Jesus
"All roads lead to the judgment seat of Christ."
- Keith Green
"Christians don't tell lies they just go to church and sing them"
- A.W. Tozer
"I will lay my bones by the Ganges that India might know there is one who cares."
- Alexander Duff
"Today Christians spend more money on dog food then missions"
- Leonard Ravenhill
"It will not do to say that you have no special call to go to China. With these facts before you and with the command of the Lord Jesus to go and preach the gospel to every creature, you need rather to ascertain whether you have a special call to stay at home."
- J. Hudson Taylor
"We talk of the second coming, half the world has never heard of the first."
- Oswald J. Smith
"God cannot lead you on the basis of facts that you do not know."
- David Bryant
"And thus I aspire to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named so that I would not build on another man's foundation."
- Paul
"Why do we insist on building the largest and most impressive structures in our city when people on the other side of town are hungry, jobless and worshipping in storefronts?"
- K.P. Yohannan
"If every Christian is already considered a missionary, then all can stay put where they are, and nobody needs to get up and go anywhere to preach the gospel. But if our only concern is to witness where we are, how will people in unevangelized areas ever hear the gospel? The present uneven distribution of Christians and opportunities to hear the gospel of Christ will continue on unchanged."
- C. Gordon Olson
"I spent twenty years of my life trying to recruit people out of local churches and into missions structures so that they could be involved in fulfilling God's global mission. Now I have another idea. Let's take God's global mission and put it right in the middle of the local church!"
- George Miley
"Oh dear, I couldn't say that my church is alive and I wouldn't want to call it dead. I guess it's just walking in its sleep!"
- Church member
"When he landed in 1848 there were no Christians here; when he left in 1872 there were no heathen."
- said of John Geddie
"At the moment I put the bread and wine into those dark hands, once stained with the blood of cannibalism, now stretched out to receive and partake the emblems and seals of the Redeemer's love, I had a foretaste of the joy of glory that well nigh broke my heart to pieces. I shall never taste a deeper bliss, till I gaze on the glorified face of Jesus himself."
- John G. Paton
"Save others, snatching them out of the fire."
- Jude
"The evangelization of the world in this generation."
- Student Volunteer Movement Motto
"Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring"
- Jesus
"Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't."
- John Piper
"His authority on earth allows us to dare to go to all the nations. His authority in heaven gives us our only hope of success. And His presence with us leaves us no other choice."
- John Stott
"Today five out of six non-Christians in our world have no hope unless missionaries come to them and plant the church among them."
- David Bryant
"Tell the students to give up their small ambitions and come eastward to preach the gospel of Christ."
- Francis Xavier
"Christ for the students of the world, and the students of the world for Christ."
- Luther Wishard
"We who have Christ's eternal life need to throw away our own lives."
- George Verwer
"Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell, I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell."
- C.T. Studd
"When I get to China, I will have no claim on any one for anything. My claim will be alone in God and I must learn before I leave England to move men through God by prayer alone"
- J. Hudson Taylor
"God has huge plans for the world today! He is not content to merely establish a handful of struggling churches among each tongue, tribe and nation. Even now He is preparing and empowering His Church to carry the seeds of revival to the uttermost ends of the earth."
- David Smithers
"The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity."
- Mike Stachura
"Answering a student's question, 'Will the heathen who have not heard the Gospel be saved?' thus, 'It is more a question with me whether we who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not, can be saved.'"
- C.H. Spurgeon.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Who am I?
My name is Patrick Olund. In fact I spell my name Patrik Öhlund but because I am surrounded
by people that can not pronounce the Swedish letter ö I write o instead.
I am 38 years old and I am married to the world's most beautiful and wisest wife in the world.
Her name is Olga is born and raised in Murmansk, Kola Peninsula, Russia. The 31st of May this year we have been married for 10 years.
Right now we are living in the city of Ussuriysk. Probably many of you have never heard of this town, but it is in the Far East of Russia. The notorious Siberian Railway goes through this town and ends 110 km further south in Vladivostok.
I really do not know why I am writing this blog but maybe I can empty my thoughts here. You are very welcome to reply to my blog. Maybe you do not agree with what I write but it doesn´t matter.
I want that everyone will come to the knowledge of God and be saved. God loves you!!
by people that can not pronounce the Swedish letter ö I write o instead.
I am 38 years old and I am married to the world's most beautiful and wisest wife in the world.
Her name is Olga is born and raised in Murmansk, Kola Peninsula, Russia. The 31st of May this year we have been married for 10 years.
Right now we are living in the city of Ussuriysk. Probably many of you have never heard of this town, but it is in the Far East of Russia. The notorious Siberian Railway goes through this town and ends 110 km further south in Vladivostok.
I really do not know why I am writing this blog but maybe I can empty my thoughts here. You are very welcome to reply to my blog. Maybe you do not agree with what I write but it doesn´t matter.
I want that everyone will come to the knowledge of God and be saved. God loves you!!
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