Why Does God Allow Christians to Die for Jesus?

 

It is estimated that 70 million Christians have died for Jesus.  And of those, more than half were martyred in the last 100 years.

Is God asleep at the wheel?  Is God unconcerned?  Is God willing to do something, but thwarted in some attempts to save his followers from violence?

Why does God allow Christians to die for Jesus?

The key to understanding how a Sovereign God could allow his followers to face intense struggles in pursuit of a Christian life is found in the pages of the Bible.  It can be summed up in this simple announcement:  “You are already dead.  Your life is hid in Christ”.

This is the conversion that makes Christians so dangerous.

Join us at 10 AM on Sunday as we meet at the Truesdale Home and share a message called “Why Does God Allow Christians to Die for Jesus?” based on Acts 12:1-5.

God’s Heart for North Korea

We will be hosting a Special Speaker at 10 AM on Sunday, Janaury 22 at the Raytown Vineyard Church.  We have invited Paul Kim to come and bring a message regarding his thoughts and experiences regarding God’s Heart for North Korea to our church, which now meets at the Truesdale Home.  In an effort to get the word out early, we are posting this note earlier than normal. 

You may know these things about North Korea:

+ Upon the recent death of his father, Kim Jong-un, who is in his twenties, has become the leader of North Korea.

+ North Korea fields the fourth largest army in the world, and has nuclear weapons.

+ The border between North Korea and South Korea is one of the heaviest milatarized zones in the world.

+ The North Korean church is one of the most persecuted in the World.

But did you know:

+ The first Missionary to Korea was martyred just outside the capital city of Pyongyang in 1866.

+ About 40 years later, a great revival broke out in Pyongyang that touched all of the country of Korea. Pyongyang became a center of missionary movement throughout the entire country and region.

+ When Billy Graham’s wife Ruth Bell Graham was growing up as a Missionary Kid of parents serving in China, she attended Boarding School in Pyongyang.

+ There is a growing awareness that God’s work in North Korea is far from over.

We will be sharing a potluck lunch afterwards, so feel free to bring a dish to share.

Here is a little more information about our Guest Speakers:

We are honored to welcome Paul Kim to our church on January 22 to share about God’s heart for North Korea.

Paul and his wife Joy were both born in Korea. Paul immigrated to the US as a boy, and Joy immigrated later in life as an adult in her twenties. They have two wonderful teenaged children.

Paul is dedicated to fasting and praying until they see the realization of their vision for North Korea to be set free to experience open prayer and worship in the name of Jesus.

In July of 2009, Paul was commissioned for ministry to North Korea from Keun Teo church in Busan, Korea.

The Kim family currently resides in Kansas City. Paul serves in the leadership of an international prophetic, healing and deliverance ministry based in Kansas City. Paul also serves in leadership at the Korean United Presbyterian Church of Kansas.

God’s Loving Warnings of Disaster

Thanks to satellites like this one, we can get lots of advanced warning about hurricanes.  With the benefit of a view like this from above, it is pretty clear that people along the path of this storm need to take measures now to prepare. 

No matter how calm things seem now, there is a force on its way that could result in disastrous results.  The scale of the devastation is truly proportional to actions that are taken before the storm hits.

In our Scripture passage for this week, God reveals to His people that a worldwide famine is on its way.  There is a specific response that each of the disciples takes.

God promises in Amos 3:7 that He doesn’t do anything without first revealing it to His servants.

How do you react when you hear warnings about upcoming disaster?  Most of us have experienced one or more of these reactions at different times:

Have you been desensitized by the “kooks” who make Doomsday claims to draw attention to themselves as publicity stunts?

Do you take a position of disbelief based on the relative stillness of current conditions?

Or on the other hand, do you go to a place of utter fear and shut down?

Or do you become obssessed and allow the warning to dominate your thinking and activity?

A sizeable portion of the Bible, both Old Testament and New Testament, is a record of God’s warning to His people about upcoming disasters.  In His love, God gives His people these warnings for a specific reason:  so we won’t be surprised and can faithfully prepare.

Feel free to read ahead and see the Scripture passage we will be focused on:  Acts 11:27-30.

Join us at 10 AM on Sunday, January 15 as we meet at the Truesdale Home at 5804 Arlington Ave and share a message called “God’s Loving Warnings of Disaster”.

In God’s Waiting Room…

How do you do with Waiting Rooms?

Have you ever felt like God has had you in the Waiting Room?

You have an unquenchable drive to use the gifts He has given you to fulfill the destiny that you know has been prepared for you.  You are needed, it is so clear, and you finally say “yes”.

And then God seems to put you in the Waiting Room.  Despite gifts God has given you, despite the obvious need, and despite the “yes” you now carry in your heart towards taking up God’s assignment, you are officially and divinely placed on “hold”.

If you have ever felt this way, you are in good company.  Even the man who would become the Apostle Paul was quite experienced in waiting to take on the role that God had for him.

This Sunday, we will be sharing from Acts 11:19-26.  This passage describes how Barnabas went to seek out Saul, aka the Apostle Paul, to help with the growing new church in Antioch.  What’s obvious is that Barnabas was an encourager.

One of the incredible things about this story is the length of time from the time that Paul was called to be an Apostle by Jesus to the time when he was actually able to walk out this calling–it was probably 7 years!  That’s a LONG TIME to be in God’s Waiting Room, don’t you think?

How can we remain equally as committed and available to God and his calling on our lives when we are “in between” assignments, no matter how long we are in that spot?

Join us at 10 AM on Sunday as we meet at the Truesdale Home at 5804 Arlington Ave and share a message called “In God’s Waiting Room”.

Peter is Challenged

Don’t you love looking back on challenges of the past with the benefit of the information that we have today?  The story of Peter’s calling to share the Gospel with Cornelius’ household makes perfect sense to us today.  But at the time, it was one of the most challenging things that Peter was asked to do.

Cornelius was an officer in an occupational army.  His only reason for being in the land was to extend the iron hand of Roman force of rule to Israel.   And yet, because of his readiness to hear the Gospel, an angel appeared to him and instructed him to send for Peter.

At the same time, Peter was praying on a rooftop and was instructed three times that he needed a new paradigm.  That whatever God called acceptable should be considered acceptable to Peter as well. 

Peter goes with the men and the entire household accepted his message and they were all filled with the glory of God.

But that wasn’t the end of Peter’s challenge.

Next, he had to come back and explain himself to the rest of the disciples.  Fortunately, they accepted the reality that God had chosen to send the good news to non-Jewish folks.  And not just to non-Jewish folks, but to officers of the political enemy’s army.

In retrospect, we see much more clearly why that made sense.  But in the moment, it was quite a challenge!

Join us at 5 PM on Sunday as we meet in shared space at 5413 Blue Ridge Cutoff and share a message called “Peter is Challenged” based on Acts 11:1-18.

Hope in the Face of Persecution in Cuba

 

I just wanted to stop by and let you know that on Sunday night November 13 at 5 PM at our church we will be welcoming Leonardo Cabrera to speak to our Congregation.  Here is some information about Pastor Cabrera:

+Pastor Leonardo Cabrera was sentenced to 8 years in prison in his native country of Cuba for his role in leading a Bible Study.

+Pastor Cabrera was miraculously freed after spending 4 years behind bars, and was allowed to move to the United States with his family.

+Pastor Cabrera now pastors Jesucristo Buen Pastor Church, a Spanish speaking church in Kansas City.

+His book, Libre Entre Rejas, has recently been translated from Spanish to English.

+Pastor Cabrera has been called to bring his message about the persecuted church to the rest of the world.

Hope you can make it!

God heals people…through our hands

 

We see it again and again in the Bible–God heals people.  God has the power and sometimes uses it to reach down and touch people.  He created the universe with the power of his word, so it would make sense that if God wants to restore a person’s health, He can do it.

What could be a little more surprising is that God invites us to participate in the healing process.  Sometimes that happens through medical science, sometimes it happens through caring and compassion, and sometimes it happens through God supernaturally intervening in ways that go above and beyond what we could ever understand.  And sometimes God uses all three tools in pouring out healing.

At the Vineyard church, we are committed to becoming a community that offers and receives healing prayer.  We know that the results are always in God’s hands.  And often God invites us to use our hands in the process.

Join us at 5 PM on Sunday as we meet in shared space at 5413 Blue Ridge Cutoff and share a message called “God heals people…through our hands” based on Acts 9:32-43.

God Invites Us to Go Lower and Lower

 

Throughout the Book of Acts, we see very clear illustrations of Jesus’ disciples taking the path of humility as they live out their mission of bringing the Gospel message to the world.

This week, we explore the passage that describes the first of many acts of great humility lived out by Saul- aka the Apostle Paul.

After he had recovered from his glorious and supernatural encounter with Jesus, Paul immediately went public with his newfound revelation that Jesus is the Christ.  For some time, he was able to freely communicate in Damascus, and led many people to Jesus.

However, when his opponents could take it no more, they set up a plot to kill him. They closely watched every entrance to the City to block his escape.

That’s when Paul was lowered over the wall of the City in the dark of night in a basket.

Before meeting Jesus, Paul’s life was about earning honor and accolades.  But after meeting Jesus, he would learn how to go lower and lower. 

As we seek to follow Jesus more fully, we come to the recognition that we must each go lower and lower.  The things we previously thought were beneath us become more and more commonplace as we shift our expectation and commitment from living for us to living for Jesus.

A generation before, John the Baptist had made this proclamation in reference to Jesus: “He must increase, but I must decrease”.   Through the pages of the Book of Acts, Paul and the rest of the early disciples lived out this truth in living color. We have the opportunity to do the same.

Join us at 5 PM on Sunday as we meet in shared space at 5413 Blue Ridge Cutoff and share a message called “God Invites Us to Go Lower and Lower” based on Acts 9:23-25.

By the way, the setting of today’s message is the wall around Damascus, Syria.  Above is a photograph of the wall as it appears today.

If God calls you “Qualified”, then you are Qualified!

 

Throughout history God has surprised many of us by calling us “Qualified” to do things we didn’t particularly feel qualified to do.

This is easy to see in the case of Saul, aka the Apostle Paul.

Before meeting Jesus, Saul’s life goal was to persecute and kill Christians.  His passion was to snuff out the church.

But when Jesus appeared to Saul, in a moment he turned his life around.  In the passage we are studying this week, we see that Saul’s  response to his calling as a Christian evangelist was to “immediately” proclaim Jesus in a very public way.

What can we learn from this part of the story of the early church?

1)  Jesus turns his enemies into friends.
2)  Being qualified by God is a measure of grace, and not anything else.
3)  In God’s economy, nothing in our lives is wasted.  God can even use our mistakes to advance the mission of love and reconciliation.

Join us at 5 PM on Sunday as we meet in shared space at 5413 Blue Ridge Cutoff and share a message called If God calls you ‘Qualified’, then you are Qualified! based on Acts 9:19-22.

Forgiveness

 

One of the most difficult things in life is to forgive.  And yet it also the most freeing. 

Please join us this Sunday as we hear from Gary Heese about the topic of Forgiveness.

Gary will be sharing from this challenging passage–Ephesians 4:31-32, which says:

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Join us at 5 PM on Sunday as we meet in shared space at 5413 Blue Ridge Cutoff and share a message from Gary Heese on Forgiveness.

By the way, Gary Heese serves on staff at a nearby Vineyard church with duties in the areas of Pastoral Care/Prayer Pastor.  For more about Gary, take a look at the Vineyard Kansas City website.