Pastor Gideon Wrote:

Dear pastor,
Greetings and thanks for your prayers. Your continual prayers towards our ministry has really been felt and we can tell from what the Lord did during our last weeks meetings. God is so faithful and I am always blessed by the scripture in Jeremiah 29:12 which says Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, ...

We bless the Lord for having taken your time to pray for us and the work here in Africa, The Lord has really answered your prayers and we trully feel your prayers, he has heard us and he has been found.

On Tuesday evening we met all the team that was traveling to _______ for the meetings and prayed together, after then we had the communion and later in One spirit prayed for each other. On Wednesday in the morning we had to get to _____ which is not to far from ______ Kenya. I led a team of 10 missioners which included the worship team.

About 300 people showed up at the open air meeting. After speaking about the cross 90 people gave their lives to Jesus. After ministering and praying for salvation an old man who had suffered for the last 30 years was brought at the meeting and God healed him instantly. The news spread forth so quickly about this man who was healed and more that 700 people turned up at the meeting on Thursday.

The same Thursday I had to lead the missioners for the village evangelism, we formed three groups that went from house to house and meeting person to person to share the word of God and was so amazed at how people responded to the gospel and received Jesus. More than 50 souls came to the Lord during this village evangelism. people opened their houses for this missioners to share the word of God with them.

At the evening during the open air meeting more than 200 people gave their lives to Jesus. We did the same on Friday and we were challenged by God to see how people were coming to the Lord. again more than 200 came to the Lord on Friday and and more than 100 souls on Saturday.

On Sunday it was our last day and we had to contact a dedication and baptism service where by we baptised 49 people and dedicated 60 children. The church began on a high note with 200 members.

We are so much praying that God gives us the tracts to be distributing to the people while doing the village evangelism. Also it is our prayer that God gives us more bibles, for the need of bibles has been increasing as we contact more missions. Pray that God gives us the bicycle which will help the pastor that we left him to shephered the church. Also pray for the team which will be traveling back to the same place to help with the follow up. Also pray that we will build a better structure which will help accommodate the members we left at the church.

We have attached the pics of what the Lord did during our meetings and we are just requesting for your prayers that the souls which received the Lord will not go back to the world. But pray that the seed we planted yield 100% fruits.
Pray for our ministry that God will make his face shine upon us, he will bless us as we also pray for you according to his word in Numbers 6:24-26 The LORD bless you and keep you;

The LORD make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace."'

Yours brother in Christ

Pastor Gideon

Don Wrote:

Dear Pastor Gideon,

It is good to hear from you. God is good and His promises are sure. Just continue to stand on them and you will never be disappointed.

As I was reading your WRAP, a verse of Scripture came to mind.

John 1:
¹⁰He [Jesus] was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
¹¹He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
¹²But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
¹³Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

This is only one of many passages from the Bible were the believer is promised the power of God. Note, however, that the Bible does not say that "as many as received the doctrine of the Baptists, the Pentecostals, Catholics, some charismatic person, etc."--but as many as received Christ Jesus are given power to grow to full-fledged Sons of God that can walk in the power of God. However,even an amateur "fruit inspector" must soon come to the conclusion that the mainline churches are not walking in the power that Christ has made available for His Church.

It wasn't long after my conversion that I read passages from the Bible like the one above, and it made me to wonder why today's churches were not walking in the same power as the first Church. I would even hear popular radio ministers teach that the time of "power" for the Church was only for the first believers to help them establish the New Testament Church. I couldn't buy into this reasoning because I could find no Scripture to support such a stance; although I could find many that said just the opposite. Also, I had trouble following this preacher's reasoning for it seemed to me that every generation needs the same power if the Church is to continue evangelizing the world and meeting the need of the believers. In fact, Jesus Himself said that: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father" (John 14:12).

It is bad enough that today's powerless church has accepted and tried to justify its powerless state. But add to this a multitude of money-hungry "Holy Ghost" evangelists who promise healings and miracles that don't come to pass. (Of course, when what they promise doesn't come to pass, their pat answer is: "you must not have had enough faith!" The people usually go away with a double burden, i.e., their affliction plus a load of guilt because they were not a giant of faith.)

This was the church world that I found myself in when I came to Christ; and I had to ask myself: "If things are not as they should be, then 'What is the problem? and what is the answer?'"

I began looking for understanding and answers in the Bible as to why the church is walking mostly in its own power. I would compare teachers and teachings to the Scriptures; but this did little to help me find THE PROBLEM because most of the erroneous teachings that came to light had different twistings of the Scriptures. In addition, I grew weary of studying all the teachings that God is not honoring because there is so much of it in the church world. It was just recently at a Bible Study that all my study and observations came together. When considering the question, "Why is there so little of God's power at work in the churches?"--it came to me that it was because of the "veneer."

Those of you who are familiar with carpentry are familiar with the term "veneer": i.e., a thin piece of wood that looks good and is used to cover a piece that doesn't look so good. The dictionary defines veneer as "a superficial or deceptively attractive appearance, display, or effect." When applied to the churches, you will find Catholic veneer, Pentecostal veneer, Baptist Veneer, Methodist Veneer, Independent Veneer, etc. In other words, instead of studying the Bible for themselves and learning to walk in the Spirit and producing the Fruit of the Spirit, the members of churches or cults are given the interpretation of the Bible that their leaders wants them to have. Consequently, those in a powerless church are following the rules and regulations set down by men and are under the beggarly elements of someone's law. This, in effect, becomes their understanding of God and their "righteousness" or "veneer." The Bible speaks of this dilemma declaring that in the last days, men shall be "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away" (II Timothy 3:5). These church members then present this veneer/covering to the world. In addition, when they approach God, they approach Him with this "veneer," and herein lies the two-fold problem with the powerless churches in the world.

The churches' dilemma with the world is that this "face" that they present to the world when they are in their "religious mode" is often a different face than the one they wear on a daily basis. Consequently, the churches have earned the labeled "two-faced," and their effect on those around them is that of turning them away from the Christ that they claim to represent.

The churches' problem when they approach God with their "veneer" is that they approach Him with their own righteousness. (I say "problem" in the singular, for although their are many churches with different faces, they all have a "veneer.") The Bible has much to say about the righteousness of man. Here are a couple of examples.

Isaiah 64:
⁶But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Philippians 3:
⁷But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
⁸Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
⁹And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
¹⁰That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

Enough said about the problem of a powerless Church. Let's look now at the answer to this problem. As with the problem, there is only one answer; and for the New Testament Church, it is found in the person of the Holy Spirit.

John 14:
¹⁶And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
¹⁷Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
¹⁸I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

John 16:
⁷Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter [the Holy Spirit] will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

John 3:
³Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
⁴Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
⁵Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

I Corinthians 6
¹⁹What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
²⁰For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

John 16:
¹²I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
¹³Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

I John 2:
²⁷But the anointing [the Holy Spirit] which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
²⁸And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
²⁹If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

Romans 8
¹There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
²For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
³For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
⁴That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Romans 8
²⁶Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Ephesians 6
¹⁸Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Romans 8
⁹But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
¹⁰And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
¹¹But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
...
¹³ For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
¹⁴ For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

1 Corinthians 12
¹Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
...
⁴Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
⁵And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
⁶And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
⁷But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
⁸For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
⁹To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
¹⁰To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
¹¹But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
¹²For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
¹³For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

Galatians 5
²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
²³Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
²⁴And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
²⁵If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Galatians 3
⁵He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

Romans 10
¹⁷So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

I'm going to have to cut this short lest I end up writing a book. So, lets consider what we've already seen in the Scriptures about the Holy Spirit and the New Testament Church.

• Because of the Lord Jesus' finished work on this earth, the Holy Spirit is now available to mankind in general and the Church in particular.
• Because of the Lord Jesus' finished work on this earth, men and women can now be "born-again" of the Holy Spirit--their body's then becoming the temples of the Holy Spirit.
• Because of the Lord Jesus' finished work on this earth, the Holy Spirit not only resides in the believer, but He becomes the believer's Comforter, Teacher, and Enabler--leading the willing believer in the day-to-day walk of faith.
• Because of the Lord Jesus' finished work on this earth, the Holy Spirit leads the willing believers in their prayers, letting them know who and what to pray for, promising that when we thus pray according to His will, that we can know He hears our prayers and that He will give us what we pray for. (See I John 5:13-15.)
• Because of the Lord Jesus' finished work on this earth, believers can now be led of the Spirit and made to be "sons of God," having their bodies "quickened" to be able to do the will of God the Father.
• Because of the Lord Jesus' finished work on this earth, the Holy Spirit now makes available to believers the "faith of God" (Romans 3:3; Mark 11:22) required to move spiritual mountains. (This faith is critical to the believer, for God does not respect any person more than another. However, He has made it so that anyone can please Him who walks in faith--"...without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" [Hebrews 11:6].) This faith of God is both a gift of the Holy Spirit and a fruit of the Holy Spirit!

There's one more thing I want to say about this faith that heals the sick and meets the needs of the Lord's elect. "So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). Too often, this verse has been interpreted to say that if one reads the Bible, that their faith will increase. True, we are to study to show ourselves approved unto God; but when read in its context, this verse is saying that faith comes when Christ (the Word of God) gives understanding by His Holy Spirit of what is being preached from the Word. (Even when we "read" the Bible, the understanding must come through the Holy Spirit. [See I Corinthians, the second chapter.]) If you'll read on, you'll see that Israel had often heard the Word of God, but had no clue of what God was about to do with His Only Begotten Son or with the New Testament Church. Likewise, today, we have people "ever studying but never coming to a knowledge of the Truth" because they study the Word in an attempt to make it agree with their "veneer," thus accounting for the "every wind of doctrine" that is blowing across the globe.

If we want to really understand how unimportant our denominational/personal "veneer" is in our walk of faith, lets look back at two Old Testament heroes of the faith: King David and Joseph. Both men were raised UP by God to rule in His stead; however, their "veneer" was very different! King David was a warrior and a rough man that no one wanted to challenge. Even though he loved God dearly, he failed God in his flesh and took a man's wife for himself, having the husband put on the front lines where he would be killed in battle. (Although David repented of the sin and had his fellowship with God restored, he and his family paid dearly for the sins.) Joseph, on the other hand, refuse to indulge in the flesh early on when tempted by the wife of one who had the rule over him; and from what we are given, he appeared to live a very saintly life. Nevertheless, although their "veneer" was very different, in their inner man that had much in common! They both loved God and had faith in His Word. In fact, God said of David that he was a man after His own heart. Apparently, in this declaration God was referring to David's love for his children; for even when one of his sons was trying to kill him, David wept for him and would have died in his stead. If this is the case, then Joseph must have had the same sort of heart; for when after he was made ruler of Egypt, he gathered around himself his brothers who had sold him into slavery as a lad, embracing them giving them and giving them a "privileged" life in the land that he ruled. My point is: if King David (and Joseph?) --who lived under the law--had a heart after God's own heart; then surely we who are born again and made to be new creatures in Christ Jesus also have such a heart. ("We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren..." [I John 3:14].) And not only do we have such a heart in our "inner man," but we also have the presence of the Holy Spirit with us at all times. This being the case, should we not approach God in the Spirit, in confidence, and not with the "veneer" of some denomination or organization?

Let me add another observation to my comments. God is not a ritualist: i.e., He does not work in a pattern or out of habit. When doing His work of grace, God meets everyone's needs on an individual basis. When we consider healing, we see an example of this in Acts the third chapter.

Acts 3
¹Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.
²And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;
³Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
⁴And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
⁵And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
⁶Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
⁷And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
⁸And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
⁹And all the people saw him walking and praising God:

Note that it was the lame man's habit to beg by the Gate Beautiful; and knowing Peter and John, we can conclude that they passed this man and the gate often on their way to the temple. Why had they waited this long to pray for the man's healing? As I read the Scriptures, the man was prayed for and healed at this particular time because that is when the Spirit of Christ moved Peter and John to pray. In other words, Peter and John did not heal the man. God healed the man when the man was ready to receive the healing. Consequently, we should not think that just because God used us to heal someone in a certain way that we are obligated to pray for everyone to be healed in that same way. God knows when there is enough faith in a heart to receive a healing for He gives that faith. As his servants, we need only to obey the Holy Spirit and we can rest assured that all needs will then be met according to God's will. This also applies to salvation. In the second chapter of acts we are told that God adds to the Church daily such as should be saved. We are to pray and we are to be instant in season and out of season with the Word of God, but God alone can heal a body or save a soul.

Let me sum up by admonishing you to never leave your first love, but to continue to live in the joy that comes by obeying the Spirit of Christ. Always be real. Don't be impressed by the "veneer" of the powerless churches in the rest the world. Expect healings and miracles, for they are promised in the Bible for all of the Lord's disciples who go forth in the name of Jesus. Also, the Bible explicitly declares that God honors His Word; so wisdom dictates that it is best to set forth the examples in the Bible when building faith in your congregation. For sure, it's good if someone is healed and they praise God on the spot for the healing! Also, the giving of testimony is always good; but the power of God is still, and always will be, in the Word of God.

Keep up the good work and our prayers are with you,

Maranatha,

Don